


A Tale of Two Dragons

by Verannode



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Firelord Iroh (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Politics, Ty Lee is just along for the ride, Zuko is perpetually confused, but this ain't abt him, fire siblings have a slightly less but still fucked up childhood, listen Azula is trying her best here, mai is here but with suspicion, oh I forgot, shitty loserlord Ozai, slight disassociation ??, the coup of Ba Sing Se but with a TWIST
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 50,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25014826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verannode/pseuds/Verannode
Summary: It's been four years since Azula was deployed as the youngest General in Fire Nation history, and now she's coming home.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 124
Kudos: 324





	1. Caldera City

**Author's Note:**

> first off -  
> www.change.org/t/black-lives-matter-en-us   
> //justiceforbreonna.org/   
> black lives matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a monster and i am so sorry

Word came in the twilight hours. The Firelord had summoned the entire royal family, waking each from their beds to receive the news. Zuko awoke to the palace alive with frantic energy, meeting his family in a deserted war-room bleary eyed and half dressed. 

As Iroh reads out the proclamation, the royal messenger hawk sat on his shoulder, he feels something well in his chest. Fear and anticipation blurred into one, he almost ached at its confusing intensity. From beside him, Ursa wept silently. 

His sister was finally coming home. 

* * *

The formal military attachment marched through Caldera city to the beat of monotone drums. Citizens below the palace crowed about the procession in verifiable awe, at its ranks of gleaming soldiers and chests heavy with the spoils of war. Near two hundred soldiers travelled the streets, moving in rows like organised ants. 

From his vantage point atop the palace grounds, Zuko could just make out the proud figure of his sister atop her mongoose-lizard heading the company. Her self appointed sigil, a great blue dragon, was held proudly by the flag-bearers at her flank. The insignia was stark in the seas of red, reminiscent of Azula's own cold fire.

Among them, she somehow made out a towering figure, even at a distance.

As Zuko watched, he tried to imagine what Azula would look like standing in front of him. The years would of aged her- no longer the fourteen year old girl that left. She would be returning almost a woman grown.

Had the war sharpened her edges or whittled them? Would they be familiar, or would she be a stranger wearing Azula's face?

What would _she_ think of _him_? 

Try as he might, Zuko couldn't imagine her to be anything but a once young girl with a bright little face and father's eyes- the sneers she adopted in her teens hopeful smiles, and her cutting barbs the whiny complaints of a little sister. 

He hoped she would not be the stranger he feared she was- the one she had already become in the days before she left. 

When the procession finally crested the hill into the royal palace, the bulk of the train halts. The Red Guard lining the palace walls stand to attention, snapping a metallic salute that starts the the palace's drums. A thrumming beat resounds in the silence of the courtyard. Below where Zuko stood, the noble crowds bristle and whisper.

Then Azula crests the great stairs atop her lizard, back held straight and proud, head high. The royal armour she had donned gleamed murky red in the sunlight, her eyes shining with proud fire. 

Ursa hitch of breath is audible above the heartbeat pounding of the drums. His father is, as always, an indifferent mask. 

Clenching his hands to fists, Zuko ignores the heat in his eyes and the tightness of his chest.

Azula idles on her mount for a minute as the drums crescendo to silence before dismounting in a single, elegant motion. The air is thick with silence as she moves forward to stand before the Firelord. From his elevated position, Iroh nods. The throng of advisers and Fire-sages bow to her. Then Iroh steps down, approaching with a wide and welcoming smile. Azula regards him for moment before dropping into a low bow.

"My Lord." She greets- voice lower than Zuko can ever remember. 

"Welcome home niece." As she straightens, Iroh clasps her shoulders before tugging her into an embrace. 

To Zuko's utter disbelief, she does not stiffen, nor push him away, as she had done on every other occasion. Instead, _she hugs him back._

Ozai scowls, and a flicker of fear runs through him.

"It's good to be back." Though she doesn't smile, Zuko can see the ghost of one crinkle in her eyes.

Lu Ten walks forward then and greets Azula in kind, though she noticeably stiffens at this touch. As the Crown Prince ushers her over to them, Iroh steps up to rattle off his speech.

Azula ignores him to stare at Zuko. 

Her eyes burn into his own, as if made of molten gold, and Zuko feels his chest clench. The usual uncomfortable sensation of being dissected by Azula never comes, instead an odd sort of familial grief takes its place. She just looked so much _older_ than she had any right to be. The illusion brought on by her hair that ran down to her waist in its half up topknot, the deep bags sat below her eyes, the regal jut of cheekbones framing her once round face, and the unfamiliar broadness in the line of her shoulders.

The war had obviously taken its due of her. 

Azula maintains their staring until Iroh finishes his speech; consisting of typical Fire Nation prose over its war heroes. 

As soon as Iroh turns away, Azula strides toward him. Zuko almost shifts into a defensive stance until he's tugged into an awkward embrace. Azula's arms, as if made entirely of wrought steel, lock around his frame. Zuko briefly reflects on the fact that is this perhaps the most uncomfortable hug he has ever received- bar Lo and Li that one time. It was so utterly _Azula_.

Her chin rests upon his royal armour for just a moment before she's leaning up to whisper, 

" _Meet me at midnight tonight_."

Then she pulls away, eyes unreadable.

Blinking at her, Zuko stands frozen. He watches as her signature smirk slides into place, and she moves to stand beside him, all but ignoring their mother and father. When the appropriate ceremonies are performed, she gives them both a brief, entirely curt nod and strides into the palace. 

Watching her form retreat through the great doors, Ozai at her heels, Zuko stands frozen. From memory, that was possibly the first time Azula had hugged him in nearly ten years. In the corner of his eye, he catches Ursa's grimace, before her face smooths out into gentle worry, facing him with question in her eyes.

"Zuko? Are you alright? What did Azula say?"

Floundering, he settles on the most believable lie he can muster "She said, 'I told you so.'"

Her answering frown makes him regret lying. 

"To the feast, then?"

* * *

It was a hero's welcome of truly grand proportions. The banquet hall was full to bursting, the smell of food blanketing the entire grand hall. Exotic dishes lined every table, stacked so full that some were precariously tilting at its corners - ready to come crashing down at the slightest jostle. The red and orange light of lanterns illuminated the night, all manner of decorations accompanying them. Below them, the band was loud and victorious, playing from dusk to dawn to entertain all manners of nobility and gentry alike. 

Zuko knew his sister was all but preening with all the attention. 

He observed from the high-table as she gravitated through commanders, admirals and generals alike, all of whom all but tripped over themselves in order to win favour from the famous General Sozin, the youngest general in Fire Nation history. Azula took each word of praise with narrowed eyes and a clever smirk, planting her seeds of loyalty with every passing sentence.

Fluid in the dance of court, Zuko wondered if she had invented the art of 'people bending'. 

It was a little terrifying - but it was Azula, it was what she did best. 

As the night progresses, Zuko finds himself at the edge of the hall, goblet full and in hand, eyes averted from the throngs of idiots who saw him as potential conversation material. He was too high strung to pretend to care about whatever they had to say. Azula's words swirled in his head, and without permission, his imagination ran wild with possibilities.

At first, he considered that Azula planned to murder him; which he quickly debunked himself. She wasn't stupid enough to give him, or anyone, any indication of her plans. And besides, what would she gain? 

Then he thought over her interactions with their uncle. Perhaps she was scheming to become the next Firelord? The years they spent apart was more than enough time to plot a coup. And Azula _had_ always longed for power in their youth, regularly creating juvenile plots between the two of them to take the throne. She could use him as a stepping stone toward her goal. Though, the more he thought through the plan, the more he realised that their father would sooner kill Azula himself before letting her anywhere near the throne. 

His next two theories venture into fantasy, but he wasn't above ruling out the vampire theory.

It would make sense, really. The nails, the blue fire, the-

"If you think any harder you'll sprain something."

_-way she can sneak up on me like a fucking phantom._

Zuko whirls around to glare down at Azula. Smirk firmly in place, she slides over to his side. The goblet she holds is empty, and there's a small flush gracing her cheeks. 

"I wasn't-"

"Yes you were. You get this stupid look on your face." Azula rolls her eyes and take his goblet.

Zuko grunts, but refrains from punching her in the arm. Not only would mother scold him, the ceremonial armour they both wear would deflect the blow. Instead, he does his best to ignores her snark, joining her in people watching.

"You haven't changed." He huffs.

"Oh? Disappointed?"

"I dunno. Should I be?" Eyeing her, Zuko can just about see the flicker of displeasure she hides behind the sip of his goblet. When her eyes flick to his, he looks away.

"That depends."

"On?"

"If you haven't changed too. Is darling little _Zuzu_ still inside there, under all that brooding?" 

Zuko manages to swallow his anger long enough for the air between them to become stagnant.

Of course Azula was like this, _of course_ she would be, he was a fool to think any differently. It was how it had always been with them, his snapping temper and her aloof words that cut deeper than knives could. Zuko thought, hoped, that they would both grow out of it. And, at the very least, he _had_.

The distance between them grows ever wider as they stand side by side.

"So, how was the war?" He says, if only to break the mounting tension between them.

"Peachy. Excellent fun." Azula chirps. Eerily, her face stays in the exact same expression. "It's a shame you didn't come along. I'm sure razing a few peasant villages to the ground would of helped distract you from your _unbearable angst_."

"You _know_ I was supposed to go Azula."

"Oh, poor Zuzu. Father knew I was a better strategist, and bender, so he sent me along in your place. Besides, it was better this way."

He wonders if she knows. That she's just another pawn to him.

It was a realisation that had occurred nearly half a year after she left. The sour taste of being all but shunned by Ozai overwhelmed with the utter repulsion of realising that his own father had sent a fourteen year old Azula into an active warzone.

 _The report had come in the night. Azula had been gravely injured and was missing. For the first time, Zuko was scared for his sister. Azula could be dead. She could of actually **died** , and he wasn't there to protect her. She wasn't even supposed to be _there _._

_His father had been an indifferent statue - barely sparing a second glance. It made him sick to his very stomach._

Now, he wonders if she knows that on that night, and the weeks following her disappearance, he had cared.

That despite everything, he still does now.

"What?" She pouts, looking at him. It seemed forced, he realises with a jolt. Nothing Azula ever did seemed forced, she was too good an actress to allow that weakness through, unless it suited her. Zuko was sure it did not suit her needs now. "No angry tirade? No challenge to an Agni Kai? Perhaps you _have_ changed."

_More than you think Azula._

"No. You're right. You are a better bender, and a General." The shock on her face is satisfying. "But I still should of been on the front lines."

Said shock melts away as Azula rolls her eyes. "By Agni, you really haven't learnt a thing."

"I should of been on the front lines because you were my fourteen year old sister. I'm your brother, I'm supposed to protect you."

"I don't need your 'protection' Zuko."

Gritting his teeth, Zuko turns to her. Only to find Azula looking away, brow furrowed deep and expression almost pained. It's the rawest, most genuine thing he's ever seen her wear, and for the split second it's there, he's speechless. Then he sees her panic, pulling on a mask just a second too late. The half smirk that forms on her face is hollow.

"Azula-" His hand almost makes contact, missing by a breath as Azula shifts away.

"Go on _big brother_. Enjoy the celebration." Without looking at him, she waves a hand at the crowds. "I'm sure Mai is somewhere around here."

With that, she disappears into the throngs of people.

 _Azula is perfect. Azula always lies._ Mantras he'd kept as a child.

Now, he'd seen that perfect mask held cracks.

"Who are you, now that you're back?" Zuko asks to a room full of strangers, who neither care, nor can give him an answer.

* * *

Azula stared at the setting sun with grit teeth. Royal armour long since abandoned in favour of robes, she stood at the balcony of her rooms. They felt starkly unfamiliar, a fact that had briefly shocked her as she entered them earlier. It felt as though she had changed too much to be allowed back inside, that the room itself would reject her as a mockery of the younger girl who used to reside here. It was a foolish thought. But four years can change anyone.

Watching the sun melt into the mountains below did nothing to calm this alienated feeling. Even as she felt the fires within her bank at the loss, a deep sense of unease remained.

As she stands, Azula scowls at herself.

The sensation was perhaps enhanced by remorse. Guilt. After their little spat at the banquet, Azula fully expected the stony resignation of her brother. He had yet to show up, and she was prepared for him not. Why would he? She had waltzed back into his life and mocked him, then ran away like some sort of child. Exactly what she did not want to do, but the thought of Zuko's scrutiny was enough to make her fall back into old habits.

And besides, her entire plan from the beginning was some sort of half thought through attempt at what? Acceptance? Understanding?

It was stupid, Azula decides. It was stupid, and needy, and entirely not appropriate. The darkening sky mocks her, and Azula turns away from it.

Walking into her hollow rooms, Azula finds her travelling trunks. Whilst she hadn't left with much, she had returned with more than a few keepsakes. Underneath her clothes lies some of the teachings from the Tribe, katas, history, philosophy, anything she was permitted to take, she did. Her hand comes to rest on a tome, tracing the ancient script.

Someone clears their throat behind her. Azula freezes, spinning into a defensive stance.

Zuko's broad frame greets her, standing warily in her room.

Azula almost smiles.

"Zuzu."

"Lala." He raises an eyebrow at her. "Why am I here?"

His face spoke volumes, wariness and curiosity mixed into one, Azula relished his open emotion. It was refreshing, not to have to work in order to find out what lay beneath a blank face.

She missed him, Azula realises. The surprise that follows this thought is unexpected. Azula ignores why.

"Come, let's have an adventure." Returning to her luggage, she pulls out two dark cloaks, silently thanking Agni that Zuko had a mind to change before coming to find her. Throwing one to Zuko, Azula proceeds to shrug into her own. Zuko, however, stares at his like he had never seen a cloak before, brow drawn low in a way that's almost comical. "It's fabric Zuzu. You put it on your body."

He huffs at her. "I know that Azula, I'm not stupid. Why do I need one?"

"Well," Azula can't help the theatrical lilt to her voice,"it wouldn't do for the common people to see the young General Sozin and the Dragon Prince sneaking out of the city, would it?" When Zuko just stares at her, Azula rolls her eyes. "Unless you _want_ to the Red Guard to drag us back to father?" 

"Fine." He pulls it on like it had personally offended him. "But you'd better explain what you're planning."

"So dramatic."

* * *

Over an hour later, they stand side by side at a steaming crater.

Azula pulls off the stupid cloak as they arrive, smoothing down stray strands of hair. From beside her, Zuko follows suit, shaking out his own back length hair, bereft of its topknot. The moon gleams bright silver on them both.

Throwing his cloak by a nearby rock, Zuko sighs. "Why are we at the hotspring?" 

"Can I not spend some quality time with my brother now?"

" _Azula_." He's so obviously suspicious that Azula can't help but extend their little game a little further. It was simply too much fun to mess about with him, and it had been years since she had last had the chance too.

"You should be grateful. You looked ready to keel over back at the banquet."

"This isn't funny Azula." When she just gives him a grin, Zuko grunts. "You can at least explain the robes."

Azula eyes flicker down to herself. She had changed after the banquet into something easy to move in, and easy to remove. It had escaped her that Zuko was quite as perceptive as he was.

"Remember Ember Island, when I was nine?"

Nodding at Azula, Zuko finishes her thoughts. "We wanted to go cliff jumping. Mother had forbade us, and you sulked for three days."

"I do not sulk." Pointedly ignoring his amused smirk, Azula gestures at the cliff beside them. "So?"

"Why not." He was still on edge, it would be shocking if he wasn't, but he pulls off his tunic anyway, moving down to his shoes as Azula does the same.

As she reaches for her shirt, panic seizes Azula stomach. She had entirely forgotten about her scars.

They were ugly, malformed things. Each cut deep into her, marks of shame. Of weakness. It sickened her that Zuko would be able to see her failures on her flesh. So much so that she turns away, eyes clenched shut.

If Zuko noticed her sudden condition, he doesn't say, merely waiting until Azula is down to her chest band and breeches. Once her pile of clothes is kicked to the side, they both glance at each other. She pretends she doesn't see Zukos eyes flicker down to the sizeable burn scar on her abdomen, or the stab wound low on her ribs. Disgust simmers low in her gut.

In front of them, the air shimmers with steam.

"First to the bottom gets a bowl of fireflakes?"

"Make that two."

Zuko throws her a childish smile.

"Glutton." Azula snorts. Just as Zuko opens his mouth to grumble, she takes off into a sprint, grinning at his sudden exclamation behind her.

Whilst Zuko was physically stronger, Azula was faster.

As her feet meet the edge of the crater, she channels her Chi into two brilliant bursts of flame from her feet. They throw her upward, Azula using the momentum to twist backward, catching sight of Zuko nearing. With a smirk, she flips him off with both hands, spinning one, twice in tight circles. As she crests, Azula breathes out, fire erupting from her mouth, pushing her down until she's free falling with gravity. When the sheen of the water below becomes visible through the fog of mist, Azula tightens into a dive, spearing through the water.

Her eyes open to the warm heat surrounding in her just in time to see Zuko breach the lake beside her, his form sizzling in reaction with the churning white water.

After a moment, Azula pulls herself to the surface, twisting onto her back. The stars were beautiful.

Zuko's head pops through the surface, long hair trailing behind him. The moonlight chisels his frown like marble.

"You cheated."

Azula smiles. "I don't think there are rules to jumping off a cliff."

"It's implied."

"I'm afraid I didn't study the subtext of jumping off of a cliff."

"You still cheated." He throws water at Azula, who evaporates the majority of it with a swipe of her hand. She can almost hear his frown.

The stars shine, dampened by the moon's splendour. Azula studies the familiar night sky of her home, reciting a few of the patterns she knew. In all her time away, she hadn't realised she would miss the simple comfort of a familiar sky. She laments not taking up Lu Ten's offer of explaining the star formations in her youth.

When Zuko's pout becomes audible, Azula sighs. "If you stop being a grump I'll demand only one bowl of fireflakes for my bounty as victor."

Zuko splutters. "I am not a grump!"

"He says, grumpily, wearing his most grumpiest expression."

"I will drown you Azula."

The laugh that erupts from her chest is sudden enough that she shifts into a paddle in order not to sink below the water. Only when she's died down to a few chuckles does Azula notice Zuko. The expression he wears is bordering on fond, and she's struck with a sudden self consciousness that only Zuko could manifest.

"W-what?"

"I haven't seen you laugh like that in years." He says. Even wet and flushed from the heat of the lake, his face is genuine. Azula aches.

She bites back another sarcastic retort. Turns away from his painfully open expression.

As Arah would say, _you forge your own path._ Her decisions now meant more than anything.

"Come, I wanted to show you something."

* * *

Zuko starts feeling alarmed, at least more than usual, when Azula leads him to a cave tucked between a jagged rock formation. It very much screamed 'secret cave'. That fact alone did nothing to ease his already fraught nerves.

It was clear that Azula had changed. But just how much, Zuko was not willing to bet on. They had been strangers to each other for so long, Azula's little competition between them made him violently aware of that fact. But she still remembered their youth fondly, she still remembered their wagers and childish games - as their little trip had shown. Between her cutting barbs and games, it felt like she cared. A feeling depressingly uncommon between them. Despite everything, Zuko couldn't bring himself to hate her for it, not ever, and certainly not now.

He watches a few steps behind her as Azula pauses, bending her fire into a sizeable torch before continuing onward into the caves mouth. Zuko sighs, and resigns himself to her plans. It was not as if he had much to loose.

They traverse through the innards of the caves for longer than Zuko would of preferred. The walls of the cave steam gently from the heat of the water beneath, fogging the way. The blue of Azula's fire creates an eerie affect. Each turn pulls at his frown into he's outright scowling, seconds away from turning around and just leaving. The entire time, Azula says not a word, only increasing her pace as they seemingly near the exit.

And then she's slowing to a stop in front of the bright lip of the exit, shadowed in the moonlight and fire. Azula extinguishes her flame with a lazy flick of her wrist. There's a giddy smile upon her face as she turns to Zuko. It reminds him of a young, six year old girl he would slide rice to at dinner - always their little secret.

"Come, we're here." She leans forward and grasps his wrist. Their bare feet slap against the hard rock as she pulls him out of the cave. The contact feels odd.

They emerge into a clearing, pools of steaming water scattered about the level surface. It was high up, the mountain behind them, and the Fire Nation before them, alight in the murky dark. The heat of the water shimmered in the dark. Zuko was momentarily breathless. His country really was beautiful.

Then he notices a dark shape upon a piling of rocks. A shape that moves, almost serpentine. It shifts and slithers, parts moving.

Until two golden eyes open. Set directly at them.

It uncurls, and Zuko feels the air knock out of his chest.

Silhouetted by the moon, great blue _dragon_ looks back.

Azula unclasps his wrist and moves toward it. The dragon makes a noise akin to a rumbling squeal, looming above them both before digging in its claws and approaching her. Zuko darts forward mostly on instinct, yanking Azula backward with an iron grip. The dragon stops abruptly at his movement, close enough that Zuko could see the fur about its head, and _snarls,_ grating and low. Pure fear races down his spine.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He hisses. Eyes trained on the dragon, his sister turns her back on the thing. One eyebrow was raised on her face.

"Greeting Rul, what do you think?" She says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if she were not talking about a fucking dragon.

Zuko feels his eyes twitch. "Rul?"

"Yes. The dragon. You _can_ see him, can't you?"

Feeling on the brink of a melt down, Zuko smooths his hair in muted agony. " _Greet_ \- wait you _named_ it-?"

"He's my companion, Zuko. Of course he has a name. Dragons aren't savages you know." 

Zuko feels several years of his life fade away. His sister is looking at him like he's the one reacting weirdly. A headache was beginning to herald itself, his temples pounding in a low ache. 

Shrugging away from him, Azula walks toward Rul, hands outstretched. From its looming, it bows to her, head coming to nuzzle against Azula hand. When it begins to purr, Zuko stares at it unreserved. It's head alone was nearly the size of Azula's entire lower body, it's body even bigger. Certainly nearing the length of a large house. Rul spoke of raw power and majesty coiled in its shut wings. Zuko's heart is loud enough that he barely hears Azula's next words.

"Rul, this is my brother, Zuko. Zuko, Rul, my dragon." It's head dips a little more to greet him, molten eyes burning into his own with a scary amount of comprehension. It makes a snorting huff sound through its nose. "Yes," Azula sighs, "I know I don't own you. It's just easier to say my dragon."

Rul shakes its head, whiskers shifting with it. Then it drops its head onto the stone with a dull thud, body settling. Moving with it, Azula sits on the ground with crossed legs, still petting it's head. 

"Azula, you better explain what the _fuck_ is going on before I pass out."

"Try to keep up, I just explained."

"No, no you _really_ didn't. Just it's name." Counting to ten, Zuko doesn't feel any calmer. His head feels like someone had smashed his brain against a rock repeatedly. And her unresponsiveness was doing nothing good for his temper. "Please explain to me how I can see a dragon right now. An actual, live, _not_ extinct _, fucking_ dragon."

Azula says nothing, merely patting the ground in front of her. Considering the thing hasn't tried to attack either of them yet, Zuko just scowls, but moves his feet. Then freezes.

"It won't eat me, will it?"

Rul snorts again. He distinctly feels like the dragon is annoyed at the insinuation.

"Rul won't _eat_ you brother. He's mostly vegetarian anyway." Azula pats the ground more insistently.

Hesitantly, Zuko approaches the spot. Rul's eyes track his every move. Lowering himself in front of the pair, Zuko sits crossed legged. The dragon nuzzles closer to Azula. It's a bemusing sight, moreso the soft expression on Azula's face as it does so.

Zuko waits for Azula to speak.

Her face hardens. "To begin with, whatever I tell you is done in utmost confidence. _No one_ can know about this. You know what would happen if people did find out about Rul."

"You're _really_ trusting this with me?" It escapes him before Zuko can think through the implications of that sentence. Azula winces, both of them seemingly thinking the same thing. If their roles had been reversed years before, Zuko would of had no doubts about Azula seeking out their father as soon as she laid eyes on Rul. It had simply been her nature, a guarantee both of them knew. Now, everything was up in the air, chief among that, _trust_. He could barely forget the years of torment Azula had bestowed, let alone something of this nature.

To his surprise, Azula looked more resigned than angry.

"I know how this looks. It's not fair on you." She sighs, Rul nudging her with his nose. "But... I guess- well I hoped, that if I showed you Rul you would- well not exactly, it's just-" Azula put her head in her hands, breathing deeply. "I want you to know that I've changed. I guess. And well- showing you Rul is a lot of trust, I think- so I- it's not as if I can lie if he's literally _right here_. If you wanted me dead, or something, it would be really easy to reveal Rul. So... uh." Her face is a mortified shade of red. "I'm giving you blackmail on me to show how I want you to trust me again?"

At first, he finds it inordinately hard not to laugh at her confused expression. But it was as honest as he had ever heard her. And in her own, _Azula_ way, he understood what she was getting at. It wasn't perfect, but it was getting there. Iroh had taught him that everyone had light in them, and that extended to Azula. _Especially_ to Azula. Zuko smiles gently, in a way he approximates uncle would of done.

"I understand."

"You _do_?"

"Well, mostly. And I want to give you a chance."

Her eyes widen, relief as clear as day on her face. "Oh. Good. Great- that's good."

"One good thing isn't gonna sway me. That's not how this works, like Iroh always says. I gotta see you trying Lala."

From relieved to petulant, suddenly the normal Azula was back. "I _know_ that!" The line of her shoulders slumps and Zuko snorts.

They stay silent for a while, Azula stroking at Rul's fur and Zuko just watching. The dragon practically radiated heat, almost like the sun. It was fascinating. And called into question much of what he had learnt from his schooling - even knowing now that almost all of it was propaganda. Lu Ten always loved to point out the lies when he was studying.

"So... where'd you get Rul from?"

"Well... remember when Iroh 'killed' the last dragon? Turns out he didn't. He knows about Rul, and the other living dragons out there."

"Wait- Uncle knows?" It doesn't escape Zuko that he's not as surprised as he should be at that revelation. Uncle always was a pacifist, and the teachings he gave Zuko always preached against violence. He had found it hard to see Iroh as anything other than his wise old uncle, not Firelord to a warring nation.

Azula smiles, leaning against Rul, who seems to Zuko to be entirely asleep. His rumbles shake the stone slightly.

"He was the one to lead me to this path." Well that certainly explained the hug earlier. "It was after I went missing. It was... a difficult time. I questioned _everything:_ father, the war, myself. Iroh eventually sent me away, to a remote island. There I found them."

" _Them_?"

"I can't explain it all, but they trained me, and eventually I was bestowed a dragon egg." She looked wistful, almost fond. "Then out came Rul. He's about two years old now."

The information starts to fill in a lot of blanks. Zuko leans back on his hands, sorting through it all in his head. It explained a good chunk of his questions.

"So... you were what? Training and getting dragon eggs?" He shakes his head. "But what about the war? Father was still getting regular reports of your progress."

Azula shrugs. "Iroh lied for me, mostly. I dipped in and out of the war after the first year to keep up appearances."

Zuko stares at his sister, who stares right back. Honestly, the most unbelievable thing about her tale was Iroh lying on behalf of Azula. The rest, he had living, blue, scaly proof of.

"You know how fucking weird this sounds, right?"

She lets out an indignant huff. It sounds a lot like Rul. "Don't be rude Zuzu. I'm being extremely sincere right now."

"I'm sure you are."

"I _will_ start lying again. Don't underestimate me just because I'm trying to be nice nowadays."

Just as she starts pouting does Zuko begin to laugh. They stay like that, sat across from each other on the warm stone, exchanging stories from their time apart, until the sun threatens to rise.

Zuko couldn't bring himself to care. He was slowly, surely, getting his sister back.

* * *

"Is that all?"

Azula spins away from the blast of flame that follows her taunts, grinning all the while. The jab smarts the air beside her, heat dissipating in a sensation so familiar to Azula it was akin to breathing. In retaliation, Azula throws a few cursory jabs back at Zuko. He dodges cleanly, settling into a defensive stance that mirrors her own.

"Hardly."

They circle each other, stances perfect. The bending court smokes slightly from their attentions, mingling with the dust their bare feet kick up. Azula analyses his stance, looking for weakness. She had to give it to him, under Lu Ten's tutoring he had become impressive at bending. But not as good as her. He still fought with his heart, easy to rile up, instead of his head.

She drops as Zuko lunges forward, using the momentum to swing her left foot out in a succinct arc. Blue flame fans under Zuko's feet as he springs upward to avoid the cold fire. He flips up, Azula snapping her leg upward to catch him, smiling in triumph when his pant leg is caught in the blast.

"It seems you've taken a blow." She suppresses a snicker watching Zuko bat at his pant leg. The gathered servants suspiciously begin to move again, gardening and walking to and from the palace grounds. Azula allows a small smile at the attention. It was gratifying to know her reputation as the greatest firebender of their generation had not been forgotten in her time away. Planting her feet, Azula takes a deep breath, releasing her Chi with the motion. The action now served to calm both mind and body, as it was once just a herald of the end of training. Zuko follows suit.

The rising sun draws her eye, its power gently flowing through her the higher it rose.

They'd fallen into this routine, Zuko and her. Every morning they would rise together before the sun and move through various Katas. Most days, it would progress into sparring, and then into their morning meal in the gardens. It had been weeks since the hot springs, and every day since that night Azula was settling more and more comfortably into their dynamic. It also helped that she hardly found it in herself to complain of her brother's presence when her days were spent almost exclusively away from him. And Zuko himself seemed contented about the arrangement. Even Ursa had expressed her elation at the two getting along. 

Azula didn't know what to think of that.

Zuko joins her as she watches the sun rise over Caldera City, passing her a cup of water which she greedily swallows. The sweat worked up in their sparring cools quickly in the breeze, her bare skin raising into goosebumps. 

"The gardens or the dining hall today?"

Azula hums. "Father will be in the hall with Uncle today."

"The gardens it is then." He waves over two servants, who pass them their robes. It would be impolite to break their fasts in training leathers. "Why he is there? Father hates Iroh."

Azula slips her arms into the maroon robe, clinching it tight about her waist. The silken weight was a blessing against the wind.

"He's been trying to expedite the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. It's a tiresome thing." They walk shoulder to shoulder to the gardens. Guards and palace servants alike bow as they pass. "Ozai should know as much as anyone that pushing now without the securing the northern Earth Kingdom strongholds is suicide. He's glory hunting, and he's not being subtle about it."

"What about Ba Sing Se?"

"He's moved his sights away. For now. I expect that claiming the Northern Tribe is merely a part one to him. Besides, with the waterbenders harassing our fleets more often, the Generals have been calling for retaliation. Father's using it as the excuse."

Zuko nods. As they near the gardens he switches the subject, never the one for military politics. It was a little disappointing to Azula, but she supposed that troop manoeuvres made for dull conversation in other peoples eyes.

"Have you put thought into the ball?"

Azula blinks. "Ball?"

As they sit, servants disappearing to fetch their food, Zuko levels a disappointed look at her.

"The Solar Aplexis... Have you forgotten?" Azula had, in fact, forgotten that particular holiday.

In between settling back home, her duties as a General, and the current unrest in Iroh's own advisers, Azula had been particularly busy. The ball was a trivial thing, celebrating the Sun's height and power. They held it every year, and as far as she could see, it was a waste of money. But Zuko, as 3rd in line to the throne, and as the so called 'Dragon Prince' was charged with the management of several Fire Nation colonies and subsequently, the festivals and holidays that brought the important dignitaries to the capital. His involvement meant, unfortunately, Azula couldn't escape the Agni-damned thing.

"Of course I haven't. I've been busy, of course. Unlike you." Their breakfast is presented to them, a platter of various fruits and rice, lychee juice for each of them. Azula quickly takes stock of the garden, and upon seeing no one of explicit rank, piles her bowl as high as she can. Zuko levels a glare at her as she begins to stuff mango into her mouth.

"I _am_ busy Azula. You're not the only one with duties." Mouth being completely full, Azula can't retort, though she internally berates him. "The ball is in a fortnight. And because you're now of age, mother will expect you to choose a date."

Azula chokes on her mango. Coughing it out of her lungs, she manages to splutter out an indignant 'excuse me.' Zuko grins at her, and Azula briefly ponders committing fratricide.

"A-a date?" 

"Yes. A _boy._ It's expected of you, since you're the princess."

Levelling a particularly scathing scowl at his stupid smug face, Azula shoves more mango into her mouth. The mere thought of having to waste her attentions on some sort of stupid, annoying _boy_ , was positively abhorrent. She was _the_ Azula Sozin, the Princess General, the Blue Dragon, the conqueror of the Si Wong strongholds, the master manipulator, the chosen of dragons, the greatest fire bender this age had seen since before Firelord Chaeryu's time. A boy, _a boyfriend_ , was beneath her.

Swallowing her mango, Azula scoffs.

"I don't need a boy. I'm the Princess General."

"C'mon Lala, I'm bringing Mai. You have to take someone." He looked far too happy about this entire conversation. It was a big brother thing to be an utter ass, Azula assumes.

" _No_. I'm sure you and Mai will be _enchanted_ with each other, but I don't need someone else to make me more interesting." The smile he sports dims a little. Azula eats her rice with more violence than usual.

"Azula, you know your duties."

"Don't insult me Zuko. Of course I do."

"Then you know-"

Before he mortifies her further, Azula throws down her chopsticks. " _Yes_ , brother. Drop it."

He lets out an exasperated sigh, leaning back. 

"Fine. But this isn't going to go away you know."

"Don't be so sure of that."

* * *

It doesn't go away.

In the space of those two weeks, no less than eleven hopeful families approach her for the ball. Azula quickly becomes tired of their attentions, their pathetic tries at courting. It was exhausting, and on top of the humiliation of it all, they were slowly undermining her authority in council meetings. If she had to sit through another single talk of her 'compatibility' and 'fecundity', Azula was sure that she would commit mass murder. Starting with Counsellor Bo and his repulsive, nasal drawl.

Eventually, as the ball begins to loom over her, Azula is forced to choose the most suitable option - General Shinu's son, a young twenty-something, by the name of Shoze. Being familiar with the General during her time in the Si Wong region, and being partial to his strategies in the war room, made his son an easy candidate. From what she could gather, Shoze was considered an attractive, honourable man, a proficient bender and a loyal solider. Serving in the disaster that was the siege of Mi Gia as a petty officer, Azula held no doubts about that fact.

Organising their night was easy enough, and commissioning a dress even easier; however much she hated not presenting herself in full royal armour, she knew it was expected of her.

Not for the first time does she curse the duties of being a Princess.

The entire affair flits from her mind until the eve of the ball. A messenger hawk is sent, with Shinu's family seal emblazoned on the message - a note heralding their arrival in the city. Azula internally curses herself. As easy as the initial transaction was, she was now faced with the reality of having to weather said boy for an entire night. On the morning of the ball, Shoze finds her in the palace. Azula notices him out of the corner of her eye as she spars with Zuko, noting the likeness he held to his father.

Once they finish, he approaches her. Hair oiled and uniform pristine, she will give him as much as that - presentation on royal grounds was key.

He holds a bouquet of red and gold roses in his hand. She just about manages not to crinkle her nose.

"Princess Azula," He bows with a confidence undeserved, grasping her hand to kiss it, "Your bending is as beautiful as they say. As are you."

The brush of his lips against her knuckles stirs exactly nothing from her, though she plays her part accordingly. Besides, Zuko was standing right behind her, she would not give him something to torment her with.

"You honour me, Captain Shoze. It is a pleasure to see you."

The roses are given with a flourish, as if Azula was supposed to see any use to the stupid things. It takes every ounce of court training in her to not set the things alight. When Shoze offers his arm and a walk about the gardens, Azula takes it as a courtly lady would. Zuko stares at her like she had grown two heads when she chances a quick glance at him. Subtly, she twists her hands to a particularly rude gesture. He seems a little less shocked when he notices it.

As they walk, awkward silence settles between them. Azula, mostly out of spite for her situation, stays silent. As they near the turtle-duck pond, Shoze breaks the silence.

"So, I hear you have commissioned a dress? I am sure you will look radiant in it."

"Thank you." Staring out at the little turtle-ducks, Azula ponders her life if she were an animal. She imagines that her reincarnation would be nothing less than a dragon, as tall and elegant as Rul. When she says nothing else, Shoze shifts in their grip. Faintly, she can hear him gulp.

"The flowers are beautiful this time of year, don't you think?"

Azula looks at the flowers. She honestly didn't see the appeal. "I guess."

"I-"

Tired of this game, Azula steers them toward something interesting. "You were a officer during the siege of Mi Gia, correct?"

"Uhm, yes, I was"

"Fascinating. I read the field reports of course. From what I gather, it was an utter disaster. What division did you serve under?" Shoze looks a little confused, but Azula doesn't care.

The field officers often exaggerated or outright lied in reports in order to preserve the delicate Fire Nation status quo, but Shoze was an active combatant there. If she ever wanted an accurate description, this was who she would get it from. Thankfully, he didn't shy away from talking about it - as every other boy she had met had done. Perhaps her reputation really did precede her. Or perhaps he had a singular brain cell active enough to catch on that Azula didn't care for his pathetic attempts at courting

Shoze spends the rest of morning 'entertaining' her. It was unremarkable, and took her away from her work, but Azula endures it. He seemed to catch on quickly to her mood.

In the evening, Azula finds her handmaidens fawning around her newly sewed dress. The gold thread needle work was very fine, she would admit. And the colours certainly reflected an element of individuality. Out of spite, she had ensured the entire dress was deep blue and gold. It held a faint golden sheen, the corset modest and slits not too high to be unseemly. It was perfect.

Neiou twitters excitedly the entire time, speaking of the radiance, the elegance of it. Azula only half listens, the comb through her hair and scented water lulling her into half consciousness. Only when they start to layer her into it, does Azula rise from her reverie. The corset was tight, not uncomfortably, as the royal tailor knew her measurements far too well - he would be fired if it fit wrong - but tight enough to be noticeable. 

"Tell me, who is in attendance tonight?" 

Izi hums, pulling one of Azula's gloves up. For a moment, her bicep tenses at the touch. Briefly, she wonders if the breadth of her shoulders and the soldiers frame she had developed would be a problem.

Izi stares down at her arms. "Most of the colony ministers, Princess."

As she expected, Azula was, at the very least, looking forward to building ties to the ministers. It was important to have contacts to call upon, and those in the colonies were some of the most important. Troop movements were so much more easily expedited in colony lands, and if she had the ministers ear on whatever matter they cared about, she could have her men in Earth Kingdom lands in half the time and hassle it would usually take.

Beside her, Li titters. She had the job of the corset, and was doing an excellent job of it.

"I hear some heads of trade are in attendance tonight."

"Oh?" Interesting, not something she anticipated. Nonetheless, it could spin to her advantage. Food, supplies and adequate equipment were so much easier to get a hold of if you had several trading empires in your pocket.

Neiou giggles. "They're all here for you Princess. It's been five years since you've attended such an event."

"Of course they are." The ladies laugh, airy and stupid. Azula smirks.

When she enters the grand hall, Shoze on her arm in resplendent red, the crowds quieten. Azula has to repress a grin.

 _The Blue Dragon_ indeed.

* * *

"You couldn't resist, could you?" Zuko huffs, two hours into the ball.

He was smartly dressed in fiery reds, hair immaculate. She had to give it to him, he made out a handsome figure in his robes. Azula merely outshines him, the only blue in the seas of red. 

"Why dear Zuko, I have no clue what you mean."

Shoze was somewhere in the room, either drinking or talking to someone she simply did not care about. Fresh off of a fascinating conversation with the head of the south-eastern fishing industry, Azula found herself in remarkably high spirits. It was truly a wonder she was enjoying herself.

"And you call _me_ a drama queen. You're such a hypocrite."

"I do try." He passes her a goblet of sweet wine, which she begins to sip demurely. "Where is Mai? I have yet to feel the urge to hurt myself yet."

Zuko rolls his eyes. " _Azula_. Not that you care, but she's speaking with Ty Lee."

Azula chokes, wine entering her lungs at an alarming rate. By miracle, she doesn't spill the red substance on her gown. Zuko hits her back a few times as she splutters. There goes her enjoyable mood, pleasant as it lasted.

" _Ty Lee_ is here?!"

The mere thought of her childhood friend sends her heart into a panicked staccato. She simply wasn't ready to face Ty Lee yet. Spirits only knew that her and Zuko's relationship was barely even considered healed yet. There was still so much emotion to sort through, even before their argument before she left. Their relationship felt all but broken and silently Azula doubts she will ever be ready to face her. Panic festers in her gut and she fights with her face to stay outwardly cool.

Said battle is not fought as well as Azula hopes, Zuko looking at her strangely. Then, as if an afterthought, snatches back the goblet she held.

"Yes. I thought you already knew?" Just as he says those words, Azula freezes.

Ty Lee's father was the head of one of the largest shipping companies in the Fire Nation. How did she _forget_ that? Was she truly so distracted? Perhaps it _had_ been awhile since she had to think so thoroughly though the ins and outs of a ball - but that hardly excused this weakness. Frustration washes over her.

"It seems I didn't." Mastering herself, Azula straightens and tries her very hardest to not study the crowds for the woman. "I thought Ty Lee was still slumming it with that ridiculous circus?"

"Apparently she left," How odd, Ty Lee had been so enamoured with the company before she left, "You'll have to ask her. She's _your_ friend you know." Zuko crosses him arms at that.

Quietly, Azula scoffs. "Hardly." She ignores his puzzled glance. "Well, good for her. That circus was beneath her talents, she was wasted on them. But... Why is she here and not another one of her sisters?"

From across the room, Ursa begins speaking with some noblewoman. Azula studies her, and upon seeing nothing of note, moves on.

"Azula, _I don't know_. Ask her." Zuko sounds annoyed. Glancing at him, he also looked annoyed.

"Calm down, it's just a few questions."

"Why would _I_ know about Ty Lee." Before she can answer Zuko huffs. "Nevermind. Mai is coming back."

Casting her gaze to were Zuko was looking to, Azula spots her.

Dressed in her signature dark reds, Mai looked as she always did. Perhaps her hair was a little longer, face more mature, but it was still the same girl Azula had met when she was a young six-something. And, true to brand, an utterly bored expression was painted on her face. It had been more than four years since she'd last seen her. At the welcoming ceremony, she had stoutly avoided the girl. Now, it seemed she had no choice but to speak with her. Zuko visibly perks and Azula scoffs. 

Mai seems a little surprised to see the two side-by-side, but it's a brief, flickering thing.

"Azula."

"Mai." She nods her head, then shifts away from Zuko. "I hear you've been speaking with Ty Lee."

"Yeah," Mai glances at her brother, "It's been a few weeks since I last saw her."

Azula hums and ignores the hurt that festers without permission. "I see. Well, enjoy yourselves you two."

With that, she leaves them alone, convincing herself that, no, she wasn't running away. And yes, Shoze most likely needed saving from the remarkably old man he had just begun to talk to. They represented each other here, it would look bad on her when he inevitably embarrassed himself. Though she begins to regret her tactical retreat when, barely halfway across the room, a familiar voice calls out.

Shoulders tensing, Azula turns to see Ty Lee's bright face staring back. Her chest tightens painfully.

And, of course, Ty Lee tugs her into a hug. The bare of her hands against her shoulders burns her skin. It surprises her how Ty Lee is now shorter than herself.

"Hello Ty Lee." Gently extracting herself out of the girls arms, Azula studies her face. No longer a girl of fourteen, she looked a woman grown. Her hair was as long as it Azula remembered, cascading down her back in some fancy updo. The red- bordering on pink- dress she wore certainly clung to her... assets. Azula has a hard time ripping her gaze away from Ty Lee's body, the subtle muscle of her arms, her exposed midriff. It worked to make her just slightly overwhelmed.

Looking up proves to be as bad, Ty Lee wearing a grin almost bigger than her face. Azula tries her hardest to fight down the irrational urge to flush at the girl's attentions.

"Spirits Azula! It's _so_ good to see you! You look amazing, that dress is incredible." She lays her hands on Azula's arms. It's as if she never left. "Wow, how long has it been? I tried to find you at the welcome feast but I couldn't!" The fact that she was there doesn't pass Azula. Truth be told, she hadn't known of her presence. It makes her a little relieved, and a little guilty. "Wow, you're _so_ tall now. And your aura is so bright, like-"

Before Ty Lee can continue her rambling, Azula manages to blurt out, "It's good to see you too, Ty Lee." The girl shines, eyes bright. Azula wonders how someone can be so beautiful. "Why are you here? I thought you were still with the circus?" Her smile dims a little, and Azula can't help the flicker of worry in her gut.

"It, ah, didn't work out... But never mind that! How have you been?" Her eyes dart behind Azula for a moment. "I missed you."

Before Azula can work out _that_ particular sentence, Shoze appears unannounced, hand coming to rest on her lower back. The action causes Ty Lee to let go of her arms, the lack of touch leaving Azula in a puzzling state of longing. A feeling she stuffs into her gut. Shoze holds two flute glasses in one hand, something Azula is suddenly, and irrationally, thankful for.

His interruption? Not so much.

"Drink?"

"Yes." She pours the bubbly liquid down her throat perhaps a little too quickly. Ty Lee looks at her with a strange intensity, so much so another blush threatens her face. "Oh. This is Captain Shoze."

Smiling, Shoze greets her. The entire exchange is rapidly making Azula vastly uncomfortable.

"Hello, I'm Ty Lee. Azula's friend."

He lets out a polite chuckle. "As I've heard. It's an honour to meet you."

"Why thank you. The honour is all mine." Ty Lee does what Ty Lee does best, batting her eyelashes in that way that makes Azula fight off a scowl.

"Say, Azula certainly chose her date well."

Shoze leers a little at Ty Lee, following his baser instincts as a boy, and Azula fights the sudden rage that flows through her. It was unusual to have such an intense reaction, right?

Pointedly, she clears her throat. Both of them turn to her. "Enough of that."

"C'mon Azula, we're just talking."

"Right. Shoze, will you excuse us?" Azula doesn't wait for him to answer as she turns to find a less crowded spot.

Ty Lee follows, not after waving goodbye to Shoze, as if they were friends. As if she had any right to. The jealous anger that fills the spaces in her chest is at once expected and confusing. Azula isn't quite sure who she's angry at.

"He seems nice." 

"Oh?" An ugly feeling rises in her chest, clawing at her throat like tar."I'm sure he does. You're so very friendly with him."

"Friendly? Azula, it's called being polite. And besides, he's nice to look at."

Jealously spills over into mouth and Azula does nothing to stop it."Ah, I didn't realise trying to whore yourself off to men was just being 'friendly' nowadays."

It feels like a slap in the face when Ty Lee, sweet unassuming Ty Lee, the girl who had always held her tongue, scowls. It's an angry, beautiful, terrifying thing to finally see her rage. " _Whore myself_?" She splutters. "Look who's talking! Barely a month in the palace and you've already got some- some idiot hanging off of your arm."

It takes a second to allow the shock to wash over her. Then Azula's face contorts.

"You forget yourself Ty Lee. Unlike you, I actually have reason to. No," A slightly hysterical laugh leaves her, "you just flaunt about like some sort of paid woman."

Ty Lee scoffs, anger laced with incredulousness. "Of course you're like this! What did I expect? For you to change? To be different?! Spirits, you're still the same vicious little- little- _girl_ you've always been."

The knife had been pushed deep, and as easy as breathing, Azula sneers, hides her hurt under anger. Vile words rest on the tip of her tongue, and a sense of sickening nostalgia fills her.

"Get used to disappointment Ty Lee, it's probably the only thing you're going to feel for the rest of your life."

"I would hate to be you Azula. I really would. Do you care about anyone? Anything?"

The insinuation hurts more than she anticipates. It hurts so much that Azula just stares. At Ty Lee's face, flushed with anger. At the people crowding around them to watch the scene unfold. At her brother's truly disappointed expression.

Without a single word, she just turns and walks away.

* * *

Ty Lee finds her against the balcony railings. She doesn't know why the woman even bothered, not with how she left things. It makes her feel so utterly foolish, that she can't navigate something as simple as a conversation. How she hates to not be good at something Ty Lee so easily masters. She hates... herself. In these quite moments, where she can think and breathe, she hates herself so much it aches.

"Hey."

Azula spares a glance from her brooding on the railings.

"Shoze left."

"I don't care about him. Apparently, I don't care about anyone." 

"I-" Ty Lee sighs. Azula resists the urge to turn around and look at her. "I didn't mean that. It was cruel, and unfair. But I'm not gonna apologise."

A bitter laugh leaves her. "I understand."

"I doubt that, Azula."

"No- I... I don't deserve an apology." When Ty Lee doesn't deny it, she winces. Stuffs her pride into her gut. "I- Listen. What I said back there, it was- well I was horrible. I didn't mean it. None of it. I felt... threatened, and confused, and I didn't expect to see you- or... well I didn't want to see you yet. So I lashed out. I _hurt you._ And- well I want to say I'm sorry. I... I probably don't say it enough. A-and I understand if you don't want to forgive me. You have every right to."

Ty Lee's presence feels like a physical weight as she comes to stand next to her.

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you apologise, to anyone." She lets out a sigh that sounds a little forced, a little strange. "What happened to you? The Azula I know would never say that."

Azula shrugs. "I grew up."

"No. No you grew up here in the palace. You were already grown before you left." That steel was back, the undercurrent of her voice that was so unfamiliar. "Azula, what _happened_? You... your aura is completely different."

"It is?" Auras were always such an odd quirk of Ty Lee's, but they were, for the most part, completely correct. The fact that hers had seemingly changed fills her with an odd sense of dread. She can still remember their first meeting, Ty Lee had expressed her awe at just how red hers was. At the time, Azula had scoffed. Now, she wonders what it meant, having one as red as hers had been.

"Yeah. Lighter. It's blue now. You almost seem happy, which is crazy seeing as you were sent off to a literal warzone for four years." Ty Lee shakes her head.

The truth lies mockingly at the tip of her tongue. She found that she wanted to tell Ty Lee everything. The Tribe, the dragons, Rul, her time spent just travelling the world. Only the grip of paranoia and fear stopped her. Ty Lee could be completely different, she could laugh in her face and call her a liar. She settles with half truths. "I found people. People who... helped me. Saved me from myself, I think." Azula eyes the banister beneath her grip, a single finger running across the lacquered edge of it. She carefully weighs her words. "Now I'm back here, surrounded by people I used to hurt... I _want_ to be forgiven. I want you to know I'm not- not who I used to be."

It was hard to admit her own past mistakes. It was harder still to want to be forgiven, when they had no motivation to do so. Azula could offer Ty Lee nothing worthwhile. Nothing to convince her she was worthy. Just some pleas and a pervasive sense of self hatred.

Ty Lee is looking at her now. The emotion behind her eyes makes Azula look away. "That's a lot to ask of someone."

"I know. But- can you give me a chance? Just one. And not out of court expectations, or fear, or whatever else I used to hold over you. Please."

"I don't know. I'm not sure I can..."

It feels like someone had her heart in an iron grip, and was slowly crushing it. She knows she deserves it.

"I understand." Azula straightens quickly, ignoring the heat in her eyes and how her voice wavers. "It's late, I should be going."

Azula leaves Ty Lee on the balcony and doesn't look over her shoulder. Finds herself too afraid to, afraid of all the things she doesn't want to see.

She doesn't hear Ty Lee's voice call back.

* * *

She goes and finds Zuko. It was late, and it took some time, but eventually she finds him standing in the hall of tapestries.

When he notices she's there, all he does is level a disappointed glance at her. Azula's chest twists. The distance between them now felt like a chasm.

"Ty Lee came to see me." She calls. 

Zuko blinks, but doesn't look back at her.

She needs to fix this, Azula knew if she fucked up everything else, Zuko was the one she couldn't loose. He was the only other person in the world who knew, who truly understood, what it was like to grow up a child of Ozai.

He was looking at the Firelord's tapestries, each painting a picture of their era. Iroh's was the latest, looking stout and stern and not at all like himself. Azula gazes at him. A lifetime ago she used to walk this hall and dream of her own portrait hung beside their ancestors, a pretty picture in blue and the crown on her head. The thought now makes her vaguely ill.

"I thought you changed, you know. The whole speech you gave me really made me think." Zuko murmurs. 

Azula bristles. The instinctual anger that rises almost gets the best of her. But she was here to swallow her pride, wasn't she? Humility was the antidote of shame, as uncle would of said.

"I _have_ changed. None of that was a lie."

Zuko explodes. "Then _what the fuck_ was that back at the ball?!" He's yelling, turned to face her.

Even from a distance, Azula can see the thunderous expression on his face.

"I know what I did! I didn't even want to _see_ Ty Lee but she just had to go and-"

"Agni- you can't just blame it all on her! If this is how you're gonna act whenever you see someone you used to hurt then what was the point of even leaving?!"

"Zuko I didn't _mean_ it any of it!"

He scoffs. "Then why do I not believe you?"

"Look- I _apologised_ to her. _I know_ I messed up and I'm trying to make it better. Doesn't that count for anything?"

Zuko freezes. Then runs a hand through his hair. "You- you apologised. Really?"

" _Yes_. I did."

"And?"

"She... well, she doesn't want to forgive me. Which is-" Azula holds up a hand before Zuko can interrupt,"-Which is completely her decision. And I respect it."

Silence descends over them. Zuko slowly approaches her side, and joins her to stare up at the painted face of uncle Iroh. Azula wonders what he sees when he looks upon their ancestors. Their long lineage that's now tainted by war and destruction.

"That's more than I expected. I mean it's not great that you were a total bitch but-" Azula lets out an indignant noise,"- _But._ At least you're trying."

She supposes he's right. Her baser instincts, the instincts she'd honed into a find art by her preteens, were so deceptively easy to fall back on. Fighting what her brain told her to do was so much harder than it had any right to be. Azula wonders if this is what it was like for Zuko. He hadn't been as bad as her, maybe more blatant perhaps, but his explosive temper and poor thinking was such a staple of who he was. She hadn't expected to come back and slowly learn that, whilst his temper was still short and his ideas extremely poor, he was calmer. More at ease with himself than he'd ever been.

Azula wondered who had put him on that path - Iroh certainly. And Ursa, no doubt - she had always taught him kindness. Lu Ten was always gentle and fond of him.

One thought burrowed into her brain, standing next to Zuko in that silent corridor. What would of happened to her, if Ozai hadn't sent her away? If Iroh hadn't shown her a better path, or even yet, the Warriors never accepted her into the tribe?

Would she of been the monster that everyone feared her to be?

* * *

Azula had never been in the Firelord's private chambers. When her grandfather sat the throne, she had always been too scared of him to enter. Once, Zuko had nearly goaded them both into it, tiny children as they were, but after Ozai caught them halfway through the door, she never entertained it again. Whilst her namesake was terrifying, Ozai had a heavy hand and wasn't afraid of using it. She had had to hide a limp for three days.

Now, sat on the balcony of the Firelord's rooms, Azula wished she had snuck in at least once. It was truly a beautiful sight to see her city alight in dusk's gloom.

Iroh pours tea at her elbow, the scent of jasmine heavy in the air. Azula thanks him in a murmur, grasping the cup to take a delicate sip. It really was a wonder about the royal family's obsession with tea. She had never understood it. It was just hot leaf water.

A polite knock sounds at the balcony doors, and Lu Ten emerges from the red silk curtains. He places his walking cane to one side, and takes a seat opposite to Azula.

"Tea?" Iroh asks, swirling the steaming pot in his hands.

Lu Ten nods. "Please." His eyes settle on Azula, gold on gold. From his appraising glance, Azula meets his eyes.

Odd, how she had once looked upon Lu Ten and had seen nothing but weakness. Ozai had ranted to her about his unworthiness as heir, that his crippling had meant him unfit to rule over the nation. At the time, she had been so ready to agree with him. Lu Ten had always tried to pull Azula away from her training, or her extra lessons in order to play with the others. It encouraged her weaknesses, Azula had thought, by taking her away from her sole purpose. Looking back, Azula understands that he was worried for her.

"You look well cousin."

"Never better," She drawls, gesturing to her thin frame and worn hands,"A few years of combat really invigorates oneself."

Lu Ten winces and takes a delicate sip of tea.

Slowly, Iroh joins them. He regards her as he places the teapot down in a way that's both thoughtful and guarded as only he could look. Bereft of his Firelord regalia, he almost looked normal.

"A few years ago, and you would of meant that." 

Azula runs a hand through her hair in a slow exhale.

"Perhaps. Training with the Sun Warriors opened my eyes. I've gained perspective since I was a child."

Despite their frequent letters back and forth over the years, Azula never divulged her own precarious mental state. Only once did she slip, when she first started to read Iroh's personal letters. Half delirious from blood loss and pain, hiding in a local earth healer's shop, she'd sent a barely legible letter back, scathing in its hatred toward him, Ozai, herself. It was the only identification her troops got for three weeks of if she was alive or not. After two months of wandering, having completely abandoned everything in a middle of a psychotic break, she read his next letter. It was her saviour, it seemed. Iroh felt like the only one in the entire world who cared about Azula then.

Since, their correspondence centred around her progress with the Tribe, where she was travelling to next, what Iroh was forging for her in her absence. Somehow, without telling him since that first precarious week, Iroh knew her struggles. Azula assumes it's the terrifying power of being an uncle.

"Perspective?" He says with knowing eyes.

"There's no honour in war. It was borne of a lie." A chuckle leaves her, dripping in self deprecation. "Your crazy ramblings were right, not that I listened to you back then."

"And you were still just a child. It wasn't your responsibility to find out the truth."

"I knew enough to know better." With a sigh, Azula meets Iroh's gaze. "This is not why I've come here."

"Of course."

Taking a deep breath, Azula puts her faith into Iroh's inexplicable, unearned kindness. "The Firelord and the nation should stand for all the values of _true_ firebending. I know now that we have twisted it. Corrupted it. And that's why I want to help you. To help end the war."

She tries to ignore the dawning smile on Iroh's face, the shock painted on Lu Ten's. Despite everything, she trusted them. It was a hard fought trust, but a trust all the same. There were precious few people that she did anymore, and all but three of them were half an ocean away on a hidden island. Once, she had invested all of it to Ozai. And he repaid that by using her, allowing her to bleed out and die. 

At some unidentifiable point, her enemies had shifted from the rest of the world, to just a few cruel men who wanted to see it burned to ash.

"I've been thinking since I first arrived here of how to end the war. And not some pathetic ceasefire, or just waiting for us to conquer the world. And I'll admit, it's going to be difficult and its going to take time, but I think I've found a way."

"It would be an honour to hear your plan."

"I suggest using Ba Sing Se as a means to end the war."

Lu Ten cocks his head. "How?"

With just an ounce of trepidation, Azula explains. Her plan was threefold: inciting Ba Sing Se into battle, a ceasefire, Iroh stepping down, Lu Ten taking the throne. The more she goes into depth, plotting the ins and outs, the more Iroh begins to nod along. Even going as far as to stage elements of her plan with their cups and bowls. By the end of it the sky is resolutely dark and Azula can feel the ache in her throat from talking for far too long. For once, she's grateful for tea.

She allows a silence to descend, Iroh deep in thought. His hand strokes at his beard.

"What you are asking of me... hundreds will die for no reason. Not for a battle or for war."

Azula frowns. "Is that not what you are doing now uncle? I am suggesting one _last_ battle. A battle to end the rest. Their sacrifices will end the war without more subjugation." Despite the line of tension in her shoulders, she ploughs on. Ozai had scrutinised her worse than this. "You know as well as I that you can't just end the war, not without inciting civil revolt within your own ranks - or worse still, in the common people. If there was another way, a better way, you would of taken it already."

"True enough. I've spent my entire reign trying to end the ceaseless bloodshed. It has not been easy. Even before you were born, I was facing backlash over my actions. But the path to freedom, and to the redemption of our nation, is not one easy tread."

Lu Ten places a hand on his fathers shoulder. "You have done more than anyone ever could father."

"Some days, I feel it is not enough. Regardless, I must warn you Azula, if I allow you to walk this path there will be sacrifice. You must know it won't be easy."

"So you agree?"

"I do. Maybe together we can end this."

The relief that floods her is palpable. It was as if the headsman's axe had been brought down, and had missed. The smile that spreads across her face is shared with genuine delight, one that Iroh mirrors. 

"I have faith in you Azula."

It doesn't hit her until later that same night, Azula finds her brother awake in his chambers. As she expected, he sat wiping down his dao sword. She enters without knocking, striding into the room to meet his confused gaze. Dressed still in her formal robes and an almost frantic energy about her, Azula paces his room.

"What are you doing here?" He drawls.

When she says nothing, Zuko just sits and watches her march to and fro, annoyance pulling at his brows.

"Azula?" He gets up, swords forgotten. " _Hello_?"

Only when he lays a hand on her shoulder does she spin around. It comes out in a panicked rush, her words as jumbled as her head. The ice grip of fear was beginning to eat away at her.

"I think I've made a mistake."

"What mistake? Azula, what's going on?"

"I was speaking with Iroh, and well, I presented him with a plan, and now I'm thinking about it, I honestly don't think its a good idea. I thought it was- at the time, but then I was walking back and I saw father and- fuck he's going to- I don't think it's-"

In an odd cross between annoyance and worry, Zuko grasps her arm and manoeuvres Azula onto the bed. Her breath was coming out short, hands shaking as she winds them into fists on the bedspread. Kneeling in front of her, Zuko gently places his hands on her knees.

"I can't believe I thought I could get away with it, he's probably already found out, and he's going to punish me again, and I deserve it, I'm a traitor, to him and to the Nation and-"

"Azula. Breathe. Tell me what's going on." His hands unwind hers from the silken sheets. The tremble in them so pronounced that Zuko has to physically stop them.

"I-I," It suddenly felt in that moment inordinately hard to think, to even breathe, the weight of fear that great upon her,"I told Iroh about a plan to stop the war a-and... fuck- father is going to find out. He's going to find out and he's going to kill me."

Golden eyes meet her own. Zuko keeps his gaze steady and presses her hands to her thighs. It pulls into focus how rapid her chest was heaving, the heat in her eyes. 

"Okay. Okay, just breathe. Father couldn't of found out. It's Iroh. You can trust him. Tell me what you need."

"J-just..." Distantly, she can remember this happening before, Arah's hands on her shoulders coaxing her through the fit. In that moment, Azula can't find the shame inside her to care and throws her arms around Zuko. He hugs her back just as tight.

They stay like that for minutes, Zuko quietly whispering reassurances into her shoulder. It settles her mind, and her rapid breaths taper off into steady breathing. Thankfully, Zuko doesn't comment, doesn't mock this weakness.

On a whim, Azula murmurs into Zuko's shoulder. "Come with me to Ba Sing Se. Please." 

_I don't think I can do this without you_ , she doesn't say.

His reply is instant, not an ounce of hesitation held in his voice.

"Of course. I got your back."

* * *

Organising a plot as extensive as the on Azula proposed is far more work than she ever gave it credit for, and she admittedly gave herself a lot of it. Day and night she finds herself in the libraries, or her own study, or the catacombs that she had bribed her way into, dragging a fine toothed comb over every single detail of the plan.

The major setback she experienced was simply privacy. Apart from her handmaidens and a few well trusted servants, there really wasn't any other palace staff she trusted - or trusted enough to not be bought off by fancy robes and a bag of Ban. It rapidly became exhausting work having to hide away to organise her plans, having to use others to fetch seemingly innocuous books or items that could trace back to her and reveal more than she was comfortable with. And on top of that, sat her duties as General.

Which in itself was a pressuring job, being the the youngest general in history, surrounded by men and women at least twice her age, including her own father. War councils were tense affairs, and decidedly uncomfortable, not that Azula would ever outwardly let on to that fact. 

In the midst of it all was her continued training at bending. Not that Azula needed it, but considering her age and position, it was beneficial to at least keep up the facade of learning. 

Rising before the sun, and rarely sleeping at nights, people eventually started to take notice. It was her appearance that was ultimately a traitor.

Zuko is first to find her out, throwing frowning looks at her in the mornings, and not-so-subtly shoving her into bed at dusk's light. He was the one to recognise the bags under her eyes, and the weariness of her bending. At their evening meals, he begins to covertly scrape more rice into her bowl - as it was when they were children. He never says as much that he noticed, not without revealing that he knew why she was so exhausted, but his actions certainly spoke loud and clear.

It's a week of their back and forth bickering, albeit subtle, before Ursa finds her. Azula figures the state she must of devolved into must be extreme, seeing as her mother never spared her a second glance before. 

She enters her room with a polite knock that Azula doesn't notice, too busy hunched over her writing desk to care. At first, Azula doesn't acknowledge her. But when Ursa calls out, Azula freezes. The blurring of her vision and shaking hands is suddenly recognisable. Through force of alone will, Azula banishes the weakness her body displays.

She would not look weak in front of her mother. Ursa hadn't earned that right.

"What do you want? If you can't tell, I'm rather busy."

"Your handmaidens tell me you haven't been sleeping."

Rage flashes through her that Azula immediately dampens. "I shall tell them to curb their tongues in your presence. Is that all?"

"Azula, I _asked_ them to tell me."

"I see." Azula grits her teeth. Who was Ursa to go meddling in her affairs behind her back? To suddenly summon this facade of caring? What did she stand to gain from this? "Whatever they have told you is not affecting my position of general or my training. You need not bother them again. I suggest you leave now."

Ursa sighs. It's a put-upon sound that Azula hates deeply, one she had heard all too often. "I'm your mother, Azula. Am I not allowed to be concerned for my daughter?"

The sound of footsteps rankles Azula further. She rises from her seat abruptly, turning around to the woman she looked so alike, and yet was not at all similar to. Ursa wore a mask around her, more gentle than court, but a mask all the same. Azula hated that she couldn't read beneath hers as she could everyone else. Azula hated that she even wore one.

"I don't recall asking for your concern."

Her mother gentles in the face of her ire, as if in understanding. Azula hates it. Hates the raw emotion it invokes in her. Hates the way she that _wants_ to be looked at like this. Caustic sensations claw at her throat, and Azula just _hates_.

"I know. You've always been strong Azula. But this... this isn't like you." Her hand comes up, as if to cup her cheek. Azula jerks away. "You look tired, my little dragon."

"You don't know me." Ursa frowns, but doesn't deny it. Azula wonders if she'd be more angry if Ursa had. "And don't call me that. I'm not 'your' anything."

"Azula..."

"What do you want, or are you here just to waste my time?"

"I just want to know what troubles you so."

"I've been at the palace for three months and only now you come to see me?" She lets out a laugh that's dripping with bitter resentment. "Get out."

When Ursa tries to protest, Azula sneers. 

"Get. Out."

* * *

Iroh finds her in the gardens.

Dressed in her training garb and fresh off the courts, Azula had been struck by a sudden fit of fancy. The turtleduck pond brought back bitter memories, ones that she tries to swallow as she watches the tiny animals drift about in the water.

Funny, she thinks, how she still finds herself jealous over such small creatures. They were practically insignificant in the grand schemes of the palace. Yet standing above them, a single, simple fact strikes her. Their mothers loved them. Unconditionally, and without fail, every small little turtleduck could depend on its mother. Such a sentiment could not be said for Ursa and herself. 

It makes her feel childish, to want what animals have, as if she were still eight years old and watching Ursa shower Zuko in affection as she sweated day and night on the bending courts for just a single word of praise from Ozai. At one point, she thought herself above her baser needs. Now, her heart is an empty chasm of old pains.

Ran and Shaw had taught her of forgiveness - how it was feeling her anger, understanding it, and then letting it go. And during her training with the Masters, in her long time away, she _had_ let go. The old rage that had fuelled her was gone. But, in its place lay a heartbreak old and deep and unforgettable. Gazing at the pond, a once regular background in her rage for Ursa, Azula wonders if she can ever heal from that.

Privately, a part of her doubts she ever can.

Iroh shakes her out of her thoughts with a gentle hand a warm smile. In the low light of the sun he looked older, wiser, if that were somehow possible.

Azula feels herself ache at the past.

"Uncle." She moves into a shallow bow.

"Azula! Just the woman I was looking for. Would you care to join me for a stroll?" 

Gesturing to the pathways, he waits for her assent. Azula favours him with a small smile. 

"Of course."

For a while, they simply wander the royal gardens, comfortable in the silence and distance between them. It was a small comfort she shared with only Iroh and Zuko - her handmaidens too chatty, Lu Ten a nervous talker, and Rul a surprisingly talkative dragon, in his own reptilian way. Azula ignores the boil of shame when Ty Lee pops into her head, and stamps out the thoughts of the girl.

It's only until the guard rotation begins to change and the bulk of the palace servants disappear to other duties, does Azula feel safe enough to break the silence.

"What did you wish to discuss?"

They round the bend of a perfectly manicured path. In full bloom, rows of pentas led their walk.

Iroh chuckles."Am I so transparent?"

"No one takes my company for 'pleasure'," Azula shrugs, "I am quite used to it."

He frowns, but does not prod further. "Well, I wished to talk about Ozai."

Every muscle in Azula's body tenses. Even his name was like a curse, phantom pains of burning hands and heavy palms awakening along her faded scars. Her hands fold into fists.

"What of him?" She says tightly.

"You know of his ambition, of course. I have been foiling my brothers designs for the throne for years now." His smile is a wan thing.

Despite the situation, Azula can't quite keep the humour out of her voice. "It is the worst kept secret in all of Caldera city."

It was no lie. Ozai was ambitious, that went without question. But his scheming was not as subtle as he thought. Her father was a smart man, she would allow that, but he was also a loud one. Several terror attacks targeting the Crown Prince and the Firelord, written off officially as inferior countries, were masterminded by Ozai. Several years ago a particularly sloppy smear campaign had led back to Ozai, and was covertly covered up. The list went on and on of his attempts at undermining the Crown.

Azula had read through the reports, having broken into Iroh's office one time. It had made her laugh. She wonders how it feels, to have a brother that actively tries to ruin you. 

"Quite true. But I fear with your new mission, and his sudden detachment from the campaign against Ba Sing Se. He will take issue."

"He will take more than just issue Uncle. Let us not pretend otherwise."

"I fear so." Iroh stops, plucking a delicate rose from a bush as they pass. Tracing the petals, his face hardens. "This is a decision no son or daughter should ever be faced with. I regret even allowing you to get into this position. It is a failing of our family, and of myself. But if it comes to it, I want you to be ready to face him."

"Failing? Is that what you call it?" Azula grits her teeth. "I didn't realise letting me bleed out in a field was a _failing_."

"I did not come here to belittle what happened to you, it was not my intention. I was horrified when I learnt of Ozai's deception. But by then it was too late. You had already left, and the matter was taken from my hands." Iroh sighs wearily. He picks delicately at the rose petals, each catching in the breeze as they are discarded. "I had not realised the extent of what he was willing to sacrifice until I learnt of your fate."

Dirty anger coils in the pits of her stomach. "So, were you just stupid back then, or did you turn a blind eye?" Fighting her voice, Azula manages to stay relatively impassive, despite the storm of resentment brewing beneath the mask. It was a childish and short-sighted but she was just so _bitter_. She had had her entire life stolen away by her father and his cruel attentions, by the war, by the Fire Nation.

That was something, despite the urgings of her masters, that she simply couldn't let go of yet. Not yet, not whilst the wound was raw.

Iroh regards her calmly, like the eye in a storm. "I did not ignore Ozai. I was blinded by what he could of been, as my brother and as a brilliant young man. In my hope, I did not see past his facade. Inside everyone there is light - this is something I live by Azula. His inner flame burnt bright enough to distract me from the darkness all around." She's trembling now, and she knows he sees. "Even as his flame waned, I kept resolute. And then you were born."

"Until I was born. His prodigy," Azula spits. Oh how she wanted to blame someone else, anyone else, as to why they suffered under him. To find out there was a reason, an enemy, that wasn't just her father. "And everyone just sat back and let him torment us. Torment me."

"By the time we recognised what was happening, he had too much control. I could not part you from him. Your mother tried her hardest."

 _"Tried?!"_ She shrieks, "She _gave up on me_. Her only daughter. She saw me as a monster, and she left me with him. My mother didn't even _try,_ " Azula strangles on her own emotion, " _No one did._ You all had perfect Zuko."

Iroh turns to face her fully. Seeing her shaking, the glisten in her eyes. Azula fixes her eyes firmly on the ground. In that moment, she never felt more a child.

She expects the usual berating words, of her ungratefulness, of her ignorance, but Iroh simply clasps his hands together.

"I am sorry. I am sorry we did not try hard enough. I am sorry you thought you were not loved. You have every right to be angry." Hands come to rest gently on her shoulder. Azula looks up then, and feels heat trail down her face. "But Azula, you are loved. Ursa does love you, Zuko loves you. I love you. Never doubt this. And, most of all Azula, I am _proud_."

"Proud?" Funny, she had never heard those words before. 

Iroh nods. His smile is sad, eyes kind. "Proud of who you have become. You forged your own path, and recognised who you can be- not what you were made to be. You are so strong Azula, and you do not even realise it." Before she realises it, Iroh has her clasped into a tight hug. "You have given the dragons new hope. And you have given yourself hope. I am so proud."

She takes a shaky breath, and sobs into his shoulder.

* * *

Azula eventually asks. Iroh had spoken with Ursa.

She's not quite sure how to feel, but her mother tries now.

And, she supposes, it's better than nothing.

* * *

Four months after Azula returns to the royal palace, she finds herself now leaving it behind once again. It's a bittersweet thing as she vaults over its gilded red walls and into the night - set for Ba Sing Se. After so long of not caring, of seeing the palace only as an object to surmount, she finally looks at the great golden building and thinks of family. Of Zuko, of Iroh and Lu Ten.

The dark tunnel was yet brighter as she treads through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pkay listen, listen,, azula wld be built as fuck okay? did u see that fckin plank she did in the boiling rock episode?? that takes like mega abs. LISTEN. azula is built. let me have this  
> side note - i adore the idea of the fire siblings growin to be a little freakishly tall. one of their grandads is mf roku comin' in at 6'8 AND their other grandad was 6'0 ! i refuse to believe that shit wasn't passed down ! ! Zuko gotta be like,,, 6'0 to 6'2 and im hedgin Azula in at 5'11 maybe taller


	2. Ba Sing Se- lower ring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azula: Does literally anything  
> Azula's ding sound affect: Allow me to introduce myself.  
> yall comments made my day,, bless all of yall  
> ive had to cut the original chapter in half bc its way too fuckin long so the plot is currently Lurking

It takes over a week of travelling on roads until they hear of a secret ferry system from a travelling caravan. Keeping mostly to the main road, they'd come across the caravan laid out, and after offering to help them fix up the cart, they'd given them a map to the place.

Zuko finds moving under the guise of refugees hardly difficult, even with Azula's insufferable attitude toward 'roughing it like thugs'. It was mostly smooth sailing, even with a few challenges in the form of highwaymen. Largely unimaginative but high in number, the lack of Earth Kingdom patrol presence allows them to spread like weeds into the country. Even with Zuko's stature and Azula's general aura of menace, the bandits are rarely deterred - attacking without thought. Together, they are all too easy to take down, but Zuko takes to sleeping with his Dao swords close by anyway. Without the steady reassurance of their firebending, Zuko felt uneasy, even with his swords - Azula mainly has to rely on her instincts and hand to hand fighting. 

She had expressed once how not using her bending felt like cutting off her own hands. Zuko can't help but agree.

Once they arrive at the immigration system the rest of the journey is entirely too easy. Their faked passports - Lee and Niya of Sen village respectfully - are processed without a second glance, their earth kingdom garb blending them in fairly easily. During the wait, only two people take notice of their golden eyes and pitch hair, but after Azula rolls up her trouser leg to reveal a nasty burn scar, they all but disappear into the common people.

Zuko tries to question Azula about the scar, and gets nothing but a shrug. He's a little disturbed of her nonchalance, but figures if they get stopped again, he'll reveal one of his own burns. Fair is fair.

With Rul safely tucked away in a desecrated earth kingdom village, some few miles away from Ba Sing Se but not too far that Azula couldn't go and see him, Zuko felt exceptionally confident. A niggling sense of excitement follows him. It had been far too long since he'd done field work of any kind, too busy drowning in the diplomatic nightmare of their Nation's colonies. He hadn't truly had an adventure since Lu Ten and himself had covertly saved a few acres of farmland from a overzealous Fire troops a few years ago.

Azula seemed less excited about the prospect of their grand adventure. She stayed irritable and jumpy throughout the entire trip, and whilst it helped her blend in with the miserable refugees, Zuko found her rather frustrating to talk to. She snaps and hisses all the way to Ba Sing Se.

After the ferry, they ride a freight filled with refugees and citizens alike that snakes through the mountains. Neither sibling had ever seen the great city of walls - though Zuko had been taught about it's size and strength by a sneering professor some years ago. As it finally comes into view their gripes of the past two weeks are momentarily forgotten. It felt more a vast sprawling fortress than a supposed city of people, it's huge walls casting shadows the size of mountains in Agni's light.

Zuko twists around from his slouch to stare at the huge structure. Even Azula, arms crossed and scowling Azula, leans in next to his shoulder to stare out at it.

One of the other passengers chuckles, a middle aged woman with a scar snaking into her hairline. "First time in Ba Sing Se?"

His sister ignores the woman, but Zuko shrugs at her. It was nice to talk to someone who wasn't Azula for once. "Yeah. Is it obvious?"

"The outer wall is impressive. I've been using this freight for twenty years now, and every new face I see always stares like you are."

"Oh." Zuko blinks.

The woman smiles. "I don't blame you. I was like it too when I first got here."

The man sitting beside her shakes out his newspaper as they cross into the drawn shadow of the wall.

"Were you a refugee?"

She frowns. For an odd reason, Zuko feels like the freight had just quietened. Azula glances around at her with a dissecting gaze. "What's your name son?"

"Lee. This is my sister Niya." 

"I'm Ka. Say, if you happen to be near the middle district, come find me at my bar - the blubberin' Plati-Bear. I'll give you a drink on the house."

Zuko thanks her and silently commits the names to memory. Azula shifts her gaze away with the face she usually wore at court. Not long after, they emerge into the lower district of Ba Sing Se, and Zuko's hopefulness vanishes.

The city was a behemoth of cluttered boxes. Even in the freight cart above he could hear the babbling of the people below. Almost alive, it seemed to shift under his eyes, following the movements of the ants below scuttling between the haphazard buildings. It was remarkably warmer inside the walls compared to the outside, almost reminiscent of the Fire Nation's comfortable climate. A sense of grand majesty radiated off of Ba Sing Se, undercut only by it's intimidating size.

Zuko sighs. It was going to be a bitch to navigate. The city was beginning to feel more and more like a challenge. Maybe Azula's constant tension was well earnt.

The freight arrives neatly at a station, and they clamber off with just their sacks of belongings. True to Azula's meticulous nature, she had equipped each of them with various 'sentimental' items of from the earth kingdom, as well as a few sets of mismatched clothing and a hidden stash of golden pieces to get them set up. It all worked to disguise them more thoroughly in case they got robbed or shaken down.

They set off side by side into the lower district, getting familiar with the labyrinthine of passages and roads it held. Various citizens bustled in the open markets, or down dank alleyways which were somehow shaded in the midday sun. As they get deeper into the district, the more they see craftsmen at work, shady dealings in broad daylight, and the raucous city life that entirely ignored them. 

Azula stops their walking in front of a general shop, eyeing it. 

"We need jobs." Zuko hums. The shop was cluttered, and the clerk inside looked like someone had set off a bomb in front of his face that he had simply ignored.

"I refuse to do manual labour." Azula snorts and continues walking.

"You're such a princess."

"Shut up _Lee_." Throwing a pointed look over her shoulder, Azula disappears into the crowds. Her voice is just about audible "You don't want a stupid job either!"

Zuko sighs and resigns himself searching.

* * *

They find an old two story building for rent, nestled in housing blocks in the middle of the district. It conveniently sits just outside an open market, and Azula figures the increased footfall would suit them better. A sleazy little man initially tours them around the empty building: consisting of an open ground floor, with a tiny back room and stairs, and a first floor apartment layout - two bedrooms and a half kitchen half living room space. 

Compared to the palace, this place was a cupboard. A particularly dirty cupboard.

But it suited their needs well enough for the next few months, and was inconspicuous at a glance. No one would bat an eye at two orphaned refugees starting up their own business with their 'inheritance'. 

Meeting the landlord of the place felt akin to pulling teeth for Azula. Stubborn and blatantly extorting them, hashing out a contract had taken the better part of the afternoon. During that time, Azula had fantasised about killing him multiple times. Zuko almost had at one point, his hand curling around the pommel of his Dao swords, Azula having to kick him in the shins as deterrent. But eventually, they pay the security deposit and the deal is settled.

Which left them with one question - what business did they even want to start?

One argument later, and Zuko suggests they get dinner. The question lingers, but Azula can't bring herself to yell at Zuko again. She was tired, road worn and dirty. All Azula wanted right now was a bath and to sleep on an actual bed. Even when she travelled with Rul, she had as much as a bedroll. 

Finding a little restaurant was easy enough as night broke over the city. Much to her insistence, they order an obscene amount of food and drink, and settle in for the night. A serving girl smiles sweetly at Zuko as they order, seemingly oblivious to who they both were.

It was a marvel to Azula that people simply didn't recognise them. She had thought the terror they reigned over the Earth Kingdoms had extended far enough that at least one person would know who they were. After their food is served, and they'd both had a few drinks, Azula brings it up to Zuko.

He shrugs. According to him, they were more figureheads, a concept, than anything else. Launching into a story, he talks about his time in the north of the Earth Kingdoms, travelling under the guise of a merchant through Iroh's insistence.

No one had ever recognised him. It confuses Azula - they were both so distinctive, their golden eyes a clear indication of the Sozin bloodline. A part of her was a little offended that the hard-earned reputation that she had cultivated over the years held no weight outside of the Fire Nation. Though, half of that reputation was built upon the death of others, so perhaps she shouldn't be too proud. 

A drink later, and Azula looses enough self control to talk more of her past, uncomfortable experiences and all.

Her travels with Rul over the years had brought her all over the earth. One of the most memorable times was also one were she questioned the teachings she had received in her youth surrounding the so called 'Air Nation army'. She had travelled to the Air Nation temples at the insistence of Arah. Each one of them had painted a sickening picture, littered with the scars and bones of all too recent conquest. In her all too regular nightmares the skeleton of a man surrounded by dead soldiers still haunts her. Azula knew, instinctively, that he had killed them all, in the dozens, and had felt sick in the knowledge that the man was just a _monk_. 

The night progress onward and, emboldened by drink, Zuko eventually asks why she was being 'a bitch'. She knew that she had been particularly snappish over the week, but the thought of not using her bending evoked... uncomfortable memories. Being helpless was a nightmare all in itself, and without her bending she was practically useless.

Swords and weapons had been second rate in her youth, her firebending coming before all else. And whilst she knew some decent hand to hand, and how to at least swing a sword, the feeling of uselessness still lingers.

Zuko doesn't prod too much, but she thinks he understands anyway.

Eventually, when they become a little too slurred to be comprehensible, and stumble back to their new house after paying the bill. As Zuko staggers through the door, Azula draped over his shoulders, and into the empty room, he snorts.

"Maybe we should run a teashop."

Azula laughs.

Two days later, and she finds herself trying to furnish their new teashop.

It was a little humiliating that she had actually bowed to his plans, but they really couldn't think of anything else and so had mutually agreed to something they would both hate. 'The Twin Dragons' as they had named it, is up and running after a week. It was convenient for their plans, working hours flexible enough that recon and various other missions could be done with ease, and without too much suspicion. The only problem she had come to encounter was accounting and budgeting.

They'd never had normal jobs, or jobs to begin with. 

Even with their smuggled gold - which she had to be careful not to spend too quickly in order not to draw attention - figuring out the ins and outs of a teashop quickly became more than just a hobby. Her brother was useless at it, which Azula had figured from the start, leaving her alone to master it. 

Zuko was more useful at actually brewing the tea, having taken a sudden, surprising talent at brewing the leaf water. Another quirk she figures emerged from their family's obsession with the stuff - tea practically flowed through their veins. A routine is quickly established, Zuko either brewing or serving, and Azula acting as a cashier or, regrettably, also serving. Azula had expected slow business at first, but it rapidly becomes a significant problem when only a dozen or so people show up each day.

To make contact with Lu Ten's network and begin to scout out the lower district, they needed to break even and establish themselves more fully. She brings it up over the books, as Zuko closes up for the night.

"We need more customers." She begins casually. 

Zuko grunts from across the room, halfway through wiping down the tables. A dozen people had come in today, not nearly enough.

Azula wracks her mind for what she could remember of one of the teashops in Caldera. It was utterly frustrating not knowing what to do, but Azula couldn't escape the fact that she was born and bred a general. She could organise a siege in her sleep, she could recite near fifty-seven various on-field tactics from memory. Her entire life had been dedicated to the art of warfare, and now she sat in a teashop, wondering how to advertise for _tea_.

If this was her so called destiny, she was sure the Spirits were laughing at her.

"Filers then. We'll advertise down here. That should be enough." Squinting, Azula works out the vague cost. "You'll find a printing shop tomorrow Zuzu."

Turning to look at her, Zuko looks like he might argue. Then he shrugs. "Maybe you should work on your customer service too."

The notion is laughable. "Oh, this is my fault now?"

"Yeah. Have you seen you Azula?"

Zuko was, annoyingly, better at interacting with the commoners than her. Azula isn't quite sure how he does it. It wasn't as if she was in court, dealing with ruthless men and women who would shove a dagger in her back as soon as she turns away. That was easy, that was what she grew up with. Talking to peasants was frustrating and belittling. They spoke of nothing important, wasting their breath with each word about the 'weather' or some other drivel. Nothing that Azula could use, or know much about. All she gets is odd looks and stilted answers.

"I have, actually. I fail to see how my superior good looks are driving people away."

He pauses to glare at her before resuming his cleaning. "Good looks? Every time you talk to someone it looks like you're plotting their murder."

It was a little vexing to know that she was being so transparent. 

"It's not like I'd go through with it." Azula grumbles under her breath. Raising her voice, Azula ensures her next sentence is simply dripping in sarcasm. "Fine, if your _so good_ at talking with peasants, what do you advise I do?" 

Straightening, Zuko shuffles over to the counter she sits at and peers at the book.

"Just try to channel Uncle. It's what I do."

Blinking at him, Azula sighs. Of course he would, he was Zuko. 

* * *

There was a festival in the streets tonight. It had been talked about by various patrons over the past couple of days, Azula half listening to them ramble on about the city floats or the food that was going to be served. Her mind was too preoccupied to care much at the time.

Now, she stood on their tiny balcony, overlooking a small parade in the streets. Of about thirty people, they held banners and flags of crudely drawn figures. As far as Azula could tell, they were celebrating the people's revolt against Chin the Conqueror in 280 BG. Lined along the roofs were agents of some sort, men she'd seen regularly, hidden from the public. Overall, the scene was a little odd to watch, the oppressed celebrating the freedom of the past.

She sips from her cup as a particularly enthusiastic group of teens run through the streets in a cackling blur.

They were ordinary kids, no different from Fire Nation teens or, she assumes, Water Tribe teens either. And somehow, someone had decided that these normal kids were worse, the enemy, people that should kneel before other ordinary kids. It baffles Azula a little that she used to truly believe that.

By the time the little festival is over, Azula and her drink is cold, and a pit of old jealously sits in her sternum. A physical weight of what she never had. The only friends she'd ever had were made from the decision of their parents - Mai because of her high profile family, and Ty Lee because of her vast array of sisters and rising wealth in the trading business. Even if they had become an approximation of what friends were, neither girl had ever had a say in it. And now, Azula assumes they would simply stay estranged from one another, in a small measure of freedom.

It hurts her more than she wants it to.

Entirely of it's own accord, her gaze is drawn east, feeling the tug of Rul in her heart. A huff escapes her as turns away and into the kitchen. It wouldn't do for her to sink into melancholy on tonight of all nights.

Zuko sat on the couch, shrugging on his mask. A black balaclava was half up his face, hair tied back.

His was a red dragon, in contrast to her own blue dragon mask. When he had first presented them, Azula had nearly throttled him. Their shop was _called_ The Twin Dragons. It didn't take a genius to connect two dragon toting spies back to the shop of such a namesake, but they had no other choice now. Buying a mask would almost directly lead back to them, and Lu Ten's spy network had already been notified of their disguises.

Azula cleans out her cup, listening to Zuko buckle his Dao sheaths onto his back. When he stands, she shifts to rest her hip against the counter top.

"Remember, don't do anything stupid."

"I got it Lala. It'll be easy anyway, it's just a meeting." That, Azula conceded, was true. One of Lu Ten's men had reached out to them through the teashop to set up a rendezvous. It wasn't far from where they were, and Azula was looking forward to understanding more about this backwards city.

From what she had seen, no one talked about the war, no one talked about the Fire Nation, and no one spoke out against the monarchy. If Azula knew anything, it was that no city was every truly united, and no government was flawless. Like a puzzle, Azula didn't yet understand how or why, without all the pieces.

"Knowing you Zuzu, you'll manage to mess up something."

"Fuck off Azula." He huffs with no real bite. "Leave me some dinner."

With that, he swings out of the balcony and disappears over the roofs. 

Azula turns to stare at their kitchen. This was going to be a challenge, she had never made dinner before. Food had always been cooked for her or bought. With a stubborn set to her jaw, Azula gets to work.

By the time Zuko slips back into their apartment, Azula had caved and bought their dinner from a food vendor down the street. She spares him a cursory glance as he closes the balcony doors and begins to unbuckle his swords. Satisfied that he wasn't visibly hurt, she continues to shovel noodles into her mouth, sat at their small dining table.

With shuffling feet, Zuko brings himself to the table and drops down opposite to her. At the pointed look to her choice of dinner, Azula just shrugs. It was either this or the charcoal the rice had become. Zuko seems not to care, piling his own bowl high without a word. Silence descends as the two eat through their dinner, though her curiosity isn't sated in the slightest. He had returned with a sizeable bag of papers they were to presumably sheaf through, and his weariness was rather interesting.

"So? It obviously went well, seeing as you're alive." 

The bowl he holds clatters as he pushes it forward to slump in the chair. Azula blinks at him. "It's worse than we thought. Those agents you saw? They're called the Dai Li."

The name rings a bell, and Azula scours her memory of old Earth Kingdom politics. It hadn't been an all too extensive topic in her schooling, but had been interesting all the same, and she'd made a note not to forget. "The creation of the Avatar Kyoshi, right?"

"Yeah. Basically, they're the secret police." He rummages through his bag, and slaps a sizeable sheaf of papers onto the table. "These are records of 'arrests' done over the past two years. All Dai Li, and all completely off the books of law enforcement." 

The pages hold rows and rows of names. Azula assumes there's at least four dozen on each paper, and the stack was thick. It was hand written, a collection of different scripts that all came from Lu Ten's networks. "This is... two years?"

Zuko runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he sighs, "That's not all though."

"Of course not." Her nose scrunches - first a secret police, and now another element thrown into the mix? Ba Sing Se was turning out to be a cesspit of corruption and challenges. Granted, she knew it would be difficult to get at the Earth King, but this was far beyond what she had expected. Not that she would turn down a challenge, but she distinctly got the feeling that they were running on borrowed time.

"We've been given a bunch of ciphers to work through too. It's a new language, but these guys are _professional_. It's the real deal Lala."

The cipher are slipped onto the table in a quiet thump. The writing was small, messages discrete. Azula leafs through them, studying the foreign symbols with a fine eye. "So, it's safe to say that they've been operating for a while, maybe decades."

"I'd say so. And from what Chunu said, they're trained killers. I don't think anyone's tangled with these guys and lived."

"There's always a first time." The smirk she flashes is met with Zuko's own. 

"So, do you have a plan?"

"A loose one," Azula gestures to the mountain of paper before them, "From what I can see, whoever controls the Dai Li, controls the city. So, if it's the King, or some other puppet-master, we find them and strike them the bargain. Besides, these Dai Li can't be all too good, Lu Ten's men have gone unnoticed for years." When Zuko just cocks his head, Azula rolls her eyes. "It means they have _weaknesses_. We can use that to our advantage. For now, we figure out how they move, how they operate. I want to know everything about them."

"Let's get to work then."

There's a shiver of excitement that snakes down Azula's spine. A grin creeps across her face as she nods back. They were finally starting.

* * *

In Azula's opinion living inside such a tiny apartment with her brother was adjacent to hell on earth. Both of them were used to a militaristic way of life, and both of them were neat in a broad sense. But it was the little things that began to grate on her. First, it was the cups Zuko always left on every available surface, then his sword rags on the couch, and finally his shoes, scattered about the apartment with no rhyme or reason, left for Azula to dodge around or straight up fall over.

Bringing Zuko with her to infiltrate Ba Sing Se in order to manipulate the king into commencing an offensive attack on her own nation had become the worst idea she had had since she managed to convince Ty Lee to distract a boy who she'd subsequently dated for three long months.

After yet another morning of falling face first onto the floor because of Zuko's fucking shoes, Azula finally snaps.

It was Wednesday, which meant that Zuko was opening the shop for the morning whilst Azula would usually be able to work on the ciphers for a few hours before joining him for the mid-morning rush. Whilst he was distracted, she strikes.

It takes over an hour, but by the end of it every single one of his shoes is hidden in various places. And mismatched. For good measure, she throws out one of each pair of shoes in their neighbours waste.

By the next day, Zuko is swearing loudly, tearing through their apartment before the sun had even risen. Azula gives him a sweet smile as she greets him, taking in his dishevelled hair and shoe-less feet. Poor Zuko was so angry he was visibly steaming. She fights to keep her smile sweet, and not victorious.

"Azula," He grinds out, "Where are all of my shoes?"

"Oh, brother, I don't know." Languidly, Azula sits at their tiny table. "You mean you can't find them all over the floor, as usual?"

"Are you fucking-" He pulls at a box above their bookshelf, which comes crashing down, "that's- you hid them all? Are you fucking serious?" The box is empty.

A grin forms on her face as Zuko bustles into her room. It would take him a while to find them all, she knew, but he was quite the bloodhound. Once, he had found his knife, which she had hidden up a tree, in the furthest corner of the royal gardens, and he had managed it in three days. But, oh, it was so fun to watch.

Revenge _was_ sweet. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

On Thursday, when she joins him for the mid-morning rush, he 'spills' tea on her three times, and forces her into serving patrons for the entire week. It was humiliating work, but Azula accepted it mostly without fuss. His cries of anguish last night on finding each singular shoe was worth the punishment of talking to peasants. 

Azula drifts back to Zuko at the counter with the inevitable lull of customers. At the sight of her, his face contorts into a glaring scowl. A glare she ignores.

"You aren't still mad about the shoe thing, are you?" She hums, busying herself with replacing empty cups to full steaming ones.

"Mad? _Oh no_. I'm not mad at all that I will have to wear mismatched shoes for at _least_ a week until he earn enough money to buy new pairs. No, _not at all_ angry. _Why would I be?"_ For someone who claimed not to be mad, Zuko looked positively enraged. Azula waves her hand carelessly at him, returning to her task.

"Maybe you should pick up your shoes instead of creating a dodge course with them around the house then."

" _Seriously_? That's why you stole all my shoes? Why couldn't you just _told_ me that. Y'know, like a normal fucking person?"

Unexpected hurt digs into her chest. Maybe he had a point. 

"Since when were either of us 'normal'?"

"We should try to be." His eyes flick up to hers. There's a level of earnestness there that Azula doesn't want to acknowledge. "So I can avoid whatever you think up of next time I do something you find vaguely annoying." The moment disappears and Azula rolls her eyes.

"Fine, I'll try play to nice." She turns to lean on the counter top. "No promises."

Outside the windows, the open market is in full swing. A blur of brown and green hustle past their little shop, almost blocking out the rest of the street. The district had become busier as of late, which drew in patrons, but also kept Azula on edge. Their next information drop was nearly a week away, and she was itching to go and find out just why.

A few more patrons shuffle in, Azula studying them for just a second before turning around. Their clothing is unremarkable, as are their faces, and were presumably no threat to them. Old habits die hard though, and she refused to be caught unawares in a hostile city.

"Any news?" 

Zuko shrugs, and passes her a tray to place the tea cups on.

"There was another arrest by the Dai Li last night. It was that baker's boy, young. Took him in the middle of the street, their neighbours have been paranoid ever since."

"Hm." Another arrest in as many days. It wasn't new, but their frequency was alarming. "They operate as if they own the city."

"Maybe they do."

The thought halts Azula for a moment.

It was completely viable. No one had seen the earth King in years, as far as anyone knows, the man could be dead.

According to the citizens, many of them don't think he even exists. She found it an odd contradiction, their absolute adherence to the oppressive system, but their utter disbelief of the person who created it to even being _alive_. Azula entertains three theories: he _was_ actually dead, and his government was a puppet pulled by someone else, he was being held hostage, or he simply did not deign make an appearance to his people - which was the height of idiocy.

Both with their information, and their own personal observations of the Dai Li's movements over the past days, the former was becoming more and more likely. Someone had to be orchestrating such a huge, _loud_ system of silencing as this. 

"Pass me the teapot Lee." With those thoughts circling, Azula resumes serving the patrons.

It had become a mechanical, almost out of body experience. Something she had well mastered during her time at court, or their family dinner, or sometimes even during training when her old firebending master had been feeling particularly cruel. If she drifted long enough, sometimes her actions weren't even her own. Most times it means she can't feel the pain of her own body.

It was a useful trance. 

_Greet, laugh at their stupid joke, pour_

The head of the Dai Li, whoever they were, would have to established a base of operations. Nothing as extensive as the order could survive without one, which meant it would be nearby or in the city itself. Azula assumes it would be the palace, as no one has ever been seen going in or out, or alternatively, outside of the main bulk of the city, but inside the walls.

Maybe even underground? They were earthbenders after all.

_Greet, nod in agreement, pour_

Such a system would span the entire city, in every sector, in order to succeed. The Upper sector must be extremely tight, perhaps the Dai Li were offering up compensation? Or some form of persuasion. Azula knew, all over the world, that the upper class' of all nations were historically renown to be the most unwilling to submit to subjugation. It was not out of the question that they were benefiting from it somehow.

_Greet, smile, nod, suggest menu, pour_

If they were to discover the head of the Dai Li, they needed to get into the Upper district. They needed to establish how large their presence was before Azula could even begin to contemplate how they were going to angle themselves. If the King was indisposed, she would have to turn to the Dai Li. There was a fine line she would have to tread - resisting the incessant, niggling idea that she could conquer this city, and win the war. It would be easier, wouldn't it? She would be exalted, the Blue Dragon who took Ba Sing Se, the legendary General.

Once she gets the information, Azula fears she'll have to decide. 

_Greet, nod-_

"I'd like one Azula please!" The customer chirps.

Every muscle locks in her body. Azula is violently ripped back into the present, frozen above this woman who had just said her real name. Cold fear stabs into her chest as she looks down, into her face.

 _Ty Lee_ smiles back.

Her grip on the teapot white knuckles as she fights to keep her face artfully blank. 

How had she not seen her walk in? Had she truly lowered her guard so much that basic observation has escaped her? Shame and something close to anger roils in her gut. It was undeniable, she had become _weak_. Through force alone, Azula meets Ty Lee's eyes.

"What-" She grits her teeth and employs Chief Montezuma's breathing techniques, though it does nothing to calm her mind. As if in control of her baser brain functions, Ty Lee sends her into a panicked haze, no matter what situation. It's fear, but it's not a fear she has ever felt before. Fortunately, she gains the power of speech long enough to force out, "We... don't serve 'Azula'. Unfortunately."

Ty Lee giggles and her chest feels hot.

"That is unfortunate! I love a nice, _hot_ , steaming Azula on a day like this." An internal fight breaks out in Azula in order not to openly gape at Ty Lee. She wonders if the people around her could visibly witness her sanity fading away with each wicked word this infuriating woman said to her. "Well, I suppose I can settle for some regular tea. And maybe a few minutes with you?"

She chokes on nothing for a few agonising seconds. "I-yes. That's- yeah." It felt as though she had entirely doused fire onto her face. It was a wonder there wasn't blue flame licking up the sides of her head.

As soon as Ty Lee held her cup of tea, Azula spins on her heel and stalks with all the grace she can muster back over to Zuko. 

"Lee." Voice tight, she grips the counter top until it creaks.

Zuko looks up after a beat and grins stupidly. "Niya. Why are you so red?"

"Look at table seven. Now." 

Keeping her back firmly to Ty Lee, Azula watches his grin drop into shock. An expression she feels deeply in her bones.

_How did they find us?_

"Mai is behind her." He whispers. 

She's being stupid, and weak, and idiotic. First Ty Lee, now Mai. What was wrong with her? Why was she so distracted? Why could she of not seen this coming? Idiot, she berates herself, you're a fucking _idiot_ Azula. Audibly, she breathes out a hushed "Fuck."

She grasps for what to do, to just think, as her head spirals into a paranoid mess. Zuko's hand rests on her shoulder and she glances upward. His eyes are drawn behind her. Shrugging off his hand, she slowly turns.

Ty Lee and Mai look back at her. Dressed in Earth Kingdom brown and greens, it was a strange sight to behold. She can't remember a time that she saw Mai not in black and Ty Lee not in pink.

Though, she can't remember a time they both willingly sought her out, either.

"You wanted a few moments?"

They nod, and Azula steels herself.

* * *

Zuko stares at Mai as Azula takes them into their tiny backroom. It had been weeks since he'd last seen her. Despite himself, he missed her - the steady presence she gave him, and the comfort they always found in each other. It didn't strike him that he would, at least not this intensely. Pining wasn't his thing, and neither was it Mai's. But here he stood, wanting nothing more than to grab the woman and never let go.

When both Azula and Ty Lee disappear out of sight, Mai tugs him into a tight hug. Maybe they _both_ were a couple of pining idiots. He hugs her back just as tight. 

Then Mai shoves him away, and Zuko winces. 

He hadn't left it on the best of terms, seeing as he had written her a long, drawn out letter in explanation of his absence. It was easier at the time to articulate himself on paper than in person, especially since he couldn't actually tell her where and why he was gone. Only after he left did he realise that that was probably a stupid move, and that Mai would be mad at him. And from the look of her slight frown, she _was_. 

Zuko rubs the back of his head. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you should be. A letter? Seriously?" Before he can begin his justification, which was sounding more and more foolish now he thought about it, Mai sighs. "Whatever, we'll have this talk later. C'mon, it's weirdly quiet in there."

They walk in shoulder to shoulder, which Zuko is briefly thankful for - Mai wasn't too mad, then. Inside, Ty Lee sat on a few boxes looking decidedly uncomfortable, with Azula opposite, stood with her back completely straight, a concerningly blank expression on her face considering the tension in the crux of her shoulders.

Mai's nose scrunches, but she sits with Ty Lee anyway. Zuko drifts over to Azula, casting her a glance that she simply looks through.

"So," Zuko draws out the word in lieu of Azula's resolute silence, "Why are you here? I mean, it's nice to see you, but it's not like we told anyone we'd be in Ba Sing Se."

Ty Lee shifts nervously as Mai leans back on the boxes, gauging both their reactions. "Your father sent us." 

The feeling that washes over him can only be described as dread. The words hang heavy, their implication worse so. Chancing a glance at Azula, Zuko finds her face a particular shade of white. 

He musters himself enough to murmur out a quiet, "Why?"

That seems to snap Azula out of her stupor. She rounds on him, voice sharp and hands clenched. "Why do you _think_ , Zuzu."

Truthfully, he had no clue why Ozai would care what they did, or why he would send two of the closest people to him and Azula. Other than concern, which was, well, laughable coming from Ozai. Granted, Zuko didn't pay attention to the insidious court games in the palace. It was far below his rank and station for him to care which nobleman got stabbed in the back, but Azula lived and breathed the constant circling of their Nation's politics. Which meant, Zuko realises with a snap of anger, that Azula knew more than she was letting on. 

For a moment, he had deluded himself into thinking Azula wasn't keeping any secrets anymore.

Azula ignores him and turns back to Mai. "What are your orders?" She all but demands.

Just as Zuko opens his mouth to argue - orders? - Mai sighs.

"He sent us to 'monitor' you. Send back reports of what you're are doing, where and so on. Honestly, I don't think he knows why you're here. No one does."

She nods, her face seemingly marble cut for how much emotion she was managing to hide. Only her hands, which come up to fiddle at her hair, betray anything. "Why you two?" Her face darkens, "And why did you agree?"

Ty Lee, all but silent since this self-styled interrogation began, looks up from the floor. "He... he threatened us, and our families. And if we didn't comply, well." The waver in her voice is painfully apparent. It shames him a little to know that they inadvertently caused this, that they were being dragged into something that they never agreed to.

Azula, either blind or ignoring that fact, hums. As if it were just a game, and not Mai and Ty Lee's entire families being threatened.

"That's bold of him. As if Ozai has the power or influence to murder high ranking families..."

Zuko grits his teeth. "Bold? Azula they could _die_."

"I am well aware Zuko." Seemingly aware of herself fiddling with her hair, Azula jerks the hand away with a slight frown. "I can contact Lu Ten and have them monitored and guarded," At Mai's deepening frown, Azula holds up her hand to stop her, "Assigning them a full guard detail will be too risky, and sending them away is too obvious. Of course, I can only arrange this _if_ you agree not to report back to Ozai."

"As if we were going to give that bastard anything to begin with. Who do you think we are Azula?" Mai scoffs.

Seemingly content with their interrogation, Azula turns around, walking to the door. She's halfway out the door before she stops. "I don't know who you are." She murmurs, then disappears up the stairs.

Zuko is left staring at where she left for an alarmingly long time, confusion and irritation washing over him in equal measure.

They needed to have a talk about keeping secrets. _And_ Ozai.

Azula felt like a riddle sometimes, one that Zuko just couldn't figure out. The almost frantic paranoia surrounding Ozai was just one of the many puzzle pieces. Something had happened between them as far as Zuko could tell. But just what, he couldn't discern. She'd never been this creature of fear around Ozai, and now she was plotting against the very man she used to worship, and knowing more than she ever said. 

With a sigh, he stands up, and offers his hand to Mai. "I'll talk with her soon. Do you have a place to stay?"

"We're staying at a hotel, it's not far." Mai stands up without his hand, but takes it anyway. Zuko flashes her a goofy smile at the contact, one that she ignores with just the slightest smile of her own. He glances back to Ty Lee, who's still sitting on the boxes, gaze glued to where Azula had just left.

"Ty Lee?" It was unusual that the woman was so quiet.

She blinks, slowly standing to look at Zuko. "Coming." As she joins them, Mai grasps her shoulder. "I'm okay, just... It's Azula, y'know."

"Yeah, I know." 

He walks them back to the modest hotel without fuss, talking intermittently about their time away, their travels, and their plans. More than once, he apologises for roping them into this mess, but each time he does Mai just shrugs him off with a wave and an eye-roll. 'Of course we'll help,' She drawls, 'You guys'll be dead without us.' It still sits heavy in his gut, but nothing he can say dissuades them. Ty Lee, more herself since they left the teashop, asks after working with them. 

Zuko can't decide if its a good idea or not. On the one hand, she'll be far better at interacting with people than the three of them combined. On the other, Azula and Ty Lee had some sort of awkward tension going on, and it would most likely send Azula spiralling into a horrific mood. He truly didn't want to deal with that. 

He settles on a shrug, and hopes she doesn't take offence.

Once they're settled into the hotel, he wanders home, taking his time in order to collect his thoughts. He didn't want to give in to the urge of snapping at her as soon as he was back. 

So, Azula was keeping secrets from him. It was something he should of admittedly seen coming, but it had felt like she had come so far that it wouldn't of been an issue. He can't decide if he's more angry or disappointed at this development. Whilst she had actively been getting better before his very eyes, he can't tell how many steps forward and back she had made. The one, glaring problem Zuko finds is that she played her cards clutched to her chest. Zuko could vaguely read her now, which was more than ever before, but he still didn't truly _know_.

At times like these, he wishes desperately to be able to talk to Iroh. 

One thing lingers as the teashop comes into sight, an inescapable pull of curiosity. What was Ozai's plan? How much did Azula know? Why Mai and Ty Lee, of all people? Entering the teashop, Zuko resolves to get those answers out of Azula. He deserved it, at the very least.

He finds her upstairs in their kitchen, pacing the floor with clenched fists and an intense expression. Watching her, it surprises him that she doesn't immediately notice his presence. When he does make himself known, she freezes in place.

"Wanna explain to me what's going on?"

Her back is turned. "Don't 'big brother' me Zuko, I am _not_ in the mood."

In vain, he tries to keep his voice level. It rises anyway. "Neither am I." Zuko moves to stand in front of her. "I thought we were done keeping secrets from each other."

Azula's gaze is sharp when she finally looks up at him. "There's a difference between secrets and the past Zuko."

Frustration bubbles up into his voice. Why couldn't Azula just _say_ what she means? It was always games with her, and he was sick of it. She needed to stop dancing about the truth. "Then _explain to me_. _Tell me_ why I shouldn't be pissed off that you didn't tell me about father _stalking_ us halfway across the fucking continent."

"I didn't think he would use Mai and Ty Lee. I thought..." Face distant, Azula looks away. "I thought I could _handle_ it."

"Since you seem to have all the answers, why did he send them?"

Finally, his needling gets a rise out of her. Azula spins, rage painted across her face. "I _know_ him, Zuko! Unlike you, I was _raised_ under him. I know how he works, how he acts, what he thinks, because I used to be exactly like him." She takes a deep, audible breath. "It's a warning, a message to us. To me. To get into my head, because he wants me to think he knows everything. That I can never escape him. That this is doomed from the beginning because really, we're all children."

The anger festering in his gut fizzles out as he watches Azula sag. Zuko frowns. "And do you believe that? Is he right?"

"I- I don't know." He thinks that means yes, with how Azula is looking right now. Like she's scared of the answer. 

At least she was being honest. It's all he wanted out of her right now.

Gently, he grabs her shoulder. "Listen, Azula, we have to trust each other. No more secrets okay? Even if it's to protect each other, we need to communicate."

The laugh she lets out is edged with a telltale choke of tears. "When did you start talking like Uncle?"

He shrugs. "I think about the same time you stopped talking like Ozai."

It sobers her a little, but Azula doesn't snap at him. Instead, she shuffles to their couch and drops onto it. She looked... tired. Like the weight of the world sat primly on her shoulders, and she was slowly succumbing to it. And, in a way, it was. Azula had taken on the burden of ending a century of war, alone. It was just an Azula thing to do, he supposes.

Zuko drops beside her. Neither of them mention how they lean into each other - comfortable in the silence between them.

Zuko's nearly asleep, having begun to drift at some unidentified point, when Azula mumbles. "I'll ask after Neiou."

It takes him a while to realise she was speaking about their father's plot. "Who?"

"My handmaiden. She's the only one who knew where we'd be going." Azula yawns. Zuko finds it weird that he's never heard her yawn before. "If she's a traitor, I'll have her head."

The malice in those words is undercut by the fact that Azula was slurring her words in fatigue. No doubt, that anger would erupt tomorrow, but for now, Zuko just shrugs. "And if she isn't?"

"Then she's already dead."

It's said in such a matter of fact tone that Zuko can't find it in himself to argue. "Hmm." He tilts his head back to look at the ceiling. The day had been too much, he just wanted to sleep. "Oh, Ty and Mai want to work here, to help out."

Azula blinks. "Okay?"

"No arguments?" He was expecting her to say no outright.

"I would be stupid if I said no."

Zuko snorts. If Azula was anything, she wasn't stupid.

* * *

With Ty Lee serving, customers pick up in number rather quickly. The customers liking her more than anyone else, something Zuko chalks up to her bubbly disposition, and the fact that she was, admittedly, very attractive. As expected, she develops an affinity for serving the patrons, a job neither Zuko or Azula enjoy. Mai had outright refused to even consider serving people. All in all, it was helping their little teashop immeasurably. 

Zuko is almost surprised when he starts seeing more regulars, and when a line begins to form to get in their tea-shop he's more than a little shocked. There was something to be said about sudden success, but where they were concerned, it was a huge bonus. Not only did it bring in more news and gossip of the lower levels, but it also meant that there was a potential for them to move up a district.

Azula had said so herself one night, sat in the kitchen organising their upcoming inventory. In a tone of slight surprise, and to the surprise of Zuko himself, she attributes it to Ty Lee's sudden appearance. The woman in question had looked unabashedly pleased by that.

After a week or so of Ty Lee working in the shop, she brings up sleeping in their little apartment. Mai had already established herself in Zuko's room, and so Ty Lee had had to sleep alone in their hotel room. He agrees, figuring it's easier for her to sleep at the teashop, and cheaper for her. Plus, she generally liked to be around people. Someone as talkative as her needed others around, as far as she had told him. It was something he never really got.

As they help her move in, however, one thing becomes abundantly clear.

Half-way up the stairs with one of her bags in his hand, Zuko frowns. "Uh, Ty Lee?" 

"Yeah?" The woman looks down from the top step, her own arms laded ridiculously with two giant pillows and a bag.

"Where are you actually gonna sleep?"

Ty Lee cocks her head. One of the pillows wobbles. "Uh, don't you have a spare room?"

Taking the couple of steps to join her, Zuko looks down at Ty Lee. " _No_."

"Then... where does Mai sleep?"

He ignores the fact that his face heats, and fixes her with an exasperated look. "In my room."

"Oh." She frowns. Zuko takes one of her pillows, just to make sure she doesn't drop the damn thing. "I'll just sleep in Azula's room then."

Without a shadow of a doubt, Zuko knew that Azula would never agree to that. To begin with, it was unbearably awkward around them at _any_ given moment. Zuko wasn't quite sure why, just that he couldn't stand to be around their half-looks and stilted words - mostly on Azula's side, Ty Lee was a master at pretending not to be at all bothered. But it was still there, and Zuko _hated_ it. The fact that Ty Lee's even entertaining the idea is hilarious.

When he snorts, Ty Lee rounds on him. Using the bag, she gestures out a 'what'. 

"She is _never_ gonna agree to that."

Ty Lee rolls her eyes, a gesture so similar to Azula's own that he can't help but think she got the habit off of her. "How do you know, huh?"

"She's _Azula_ , Ty." Azula, who, even without her tense friendship with Ty Lee, freezes up at even the prospect of a hug. Azula, who gets uncomfortable at accidental arm brushing. Azula, who would never, ever willingly agree to having _Ty Lee_ sleep in her bed, shoulder to shoulder. Touching. The concept of her saying yes is akin to a 100 foot platypus-bear existing. That was purple, and had silver wings, and pink horns.

"I'll ask her right now. And because I am her _very best_ friend, she will say yes." The confidence she excludes makes Zuko feel a little bad when she will inevitably be shut down, but he can't bring himself to stop her.

Together, they march into the apartment to find Azula half bent at the waist, rifling through one of Ty Lee's bags. She straightens and fixes them both with a confused look, one eyebrow creeping upwards.

Ty Lee shoots a glare at Zuko and asks.

Azula says no.

Very vehemently and with a brilliantly crimson face. Zuko can't tell who he's laughing more at, Ty Lee's theatrically betrayed expression, or Azula's ridiculous fluster. At his laughter, Azula shoots him a particularly scathing glare, that holds no weight at all with her looking like a Fire Nation flag.

Dropping his boxes, Zuko moves to leave as they begin to bicker back and forth - he was not dealing with them today, and it was Ty Lee's own fault to begin with.

* * *

They were cleaning up for the night when Mai storms downstairs. Azula had been quite content on not having to listen to quarrelling lovers at sundown, but _apparently_ she couldn't have anything nice.

Azula levels a particularly withering glare at, now Zuko and Mai, who were both engaged in verbal warfare in their shop. Ty Lee, hugging her broomstick and confusion painted across her face, inches over to her. Moments later, Zuko deflects Mai's shirt as it is thrown at him, which he proceeds to pick up and throw back at her.

" _What is happening_." Ty Lee whispers at her. 

Azula shrugs and leans back into her, gripes momentarily forgotten."I think they've both finally lost their minds." 

One breathy giggle from Ty Lee and Azula remembers herself, rigidly jolting away. They both look on as their volume increases - an odd thing to witness from Mai, not so much from Zuko. After a few minutes, Azula slumps a little in her seat. It was all but impossible to know what they were arguing about, but from how loud they were being, it wasn't a serious argument. Their serious arguments, which were few and far between with the two having been dating for a good five years, were always muted, vastly uncomfortable things. Mai's true anger was a cold snap, whereas Zuko's was a blaze of rashness. 

It was complimentary, but highly frustrating. Though, she supposes, Mai expressed herself when she argued, which was probably a good thing for the woman. Maybe that was why they were so loud, a vent for both of them.

Ty Lee, having become bored of watching, circles around to sit opposite Azula, broomstick still clutched to herself. There's a glimmer of mischievousness in her eyes that Azula hadn't realised she had missed so much. "Wanna bet on what they're arguing about now?"

It takes a moment for Azula to decide. She wants, just for this moment, to forget their history, the strained ties of their relationship, and just let herself revel in Ty Lee's eyes on her. To be selfish. It had been years since she'd allowed herself to selfish.

"Go on then." She grins at Azula, and infectious, Azula smiles back. "What do you think they're arguing about?"

"Hmm." Ty Lee giggles. "She caught him staring at one of those pretty girls that comes in on Wednesdays." 

Repressing a smirk, Azula hums. That was last weeks argument, which was resolved, disgustingly, with them making out in a corner. No, it would be something new, and with Mai throwing her shirts at Zuko, she thinks she knows.

"Interesting. I would wager that it's about Zuko's abysmal washing skills." 

"Ooh, good one. I still have dirt stains on my skirts." 

Azula waves a hand at yet another one of Mai's shirts. "Precisely. He deserves it."

The laugh that follows is perfectly pretty, and Azula averts her gaze. Ty Lee was far too stunning for her own good. It was a safety hazard.

As their argument winds down, Mai and Zuko finally begin to quieten. It results in them gazing at each other, utterly in love, before Mai grabs his wrist and drags him upstairs. Azula rolls her eyes at them, and moves to leave. She wasn't keen on hearing them... make up.

"Hey," Ty Lee grasps her wrist, just as Azula gets up, "Can we talk?"

There's a level of seriousness about Ty Lee that she's instantly cautious of, and with the fact that this was the first time they'd truly been alone together, said cautiousness only increases. Azula narrows her eyes. The touch sends a buzz of sensation all the way up her arm. "About?"

"About before." She means their argument. The one that haunts her still.

"Why? What's there to talk about."

She huffs and lets her hand drop. Azula almost chases after it, before remembering herself.

"You act like a skittish hawk around me 'Zula." The insinuation almost makes Azula argue before she clamps her mouth shut. She couldn't mess this up _four words_ into the conversation. "I think we _need_ to talk."

She gestures to the new couch tucked in the back room, face a painting of determination. Warily, Azula approaches and sits down on it, back straight in a reflexive nervous habit she simply can't shake. Ty Lee joins her, a good distance sat away, and silence falls over them. It becomes increasingly more uncomfortable by the second, but Azula can't think of the right words to say, and so says nothing at all.

With hope, Ty Lee had thought this through. 

Eventually, after surplus shifting, Ty Lee nods resolutely. "What happened that night, I regret it."

Before she crushes her heart anymore, Azula holds up her hand. Honestly, she didn't want to hear this. "You don't have to say anything Ty. It's fine." 

It wasn't fine. _She_ wasn't fine, but it was Ty Lee's choice. Despite what she desperately wanted, she wasn't going to force her anymore. Even if it hurt.

"No- no, I _do_ want to forgive you." The breath is instantly knocked from her chest. "I know you asked before, and I didn't say anything, but it's unfair not to give you a chance, and Zuko tells me you've really changed and..." She takes a deep breath. "I regret letting you leave that night without saying that I _am_ ready to give you a second chance. And I'm sorry I didn't say so, it was just a lot, at the time."

"Oh..." Azula stares at her, a little dumbfounded. "I- thank you. For the chance. That's more than I deserve." A boulder of weight is lifted from her shoulders, one that she didn't even know she was carrying.

"Azula, you deserve a lot of things, and none of it should be cruel." 

Despite herself, she snorts. Ty Lee cocks her head with a frown. She does her best to ignore the woman's concern, and settles her mind. If she were being honest with herself, which she was striving to be better at, their last fight had haunted her mind for years. 

It had been the week prior to her leaving, the news of Zuko's replacement having been circulating for a few weeks now. At the time, Azula had only been devoted to preparing for what came ahead. Ozai had tasked her with much to do, and she didn't want to disappoint him. She _couldn't_ disappoint him. So much so, that she hadn't contacted anyone about her leave, far too busy to bother telling people. They would be insignificant once the mission was complete, and she would come home to sit at her father's side as the Firelord's daughter triumphant.

Ty Lee had found her in her rooms, as furious as Azula had ever seen her. Azula hadn't cared at the time - _nothing_ had mattered but her mission, what her father needed from her. Then she would be exalted, and loved, and the world would bow to her. Ty Lee's feelings didn't matter. _Ty Lee_ didn't matter. Nothing did, only the glory that would be Firelord Ozai, first of his name. 

And she had said as much to her, with a vicious sneer and cold eyes and utter conviction. Ty Lee had taken one last look at her, tears streaming down her face, and had left.

It had been one of the many things that had broken her, back then. That Ty Lee, steadfast, charming, perfect Ty Lee had left her. And she had made her leave, spitting words of cruel violence for no reason but to be cruel.

When she had come back, Ty Lee had acted like nothing was wrong, and Azula just couldn't understand. If it had been her, that had been told those words and had experienced those things, she would of tried to ruin her.

It was unforgivable. 

"I should also apologise. For before. Before I left. It was... I wasn't really stable, I don't think. Which isn't an accuse, I know, but I would of never said those things if I wasn't... If anything, I promise to you I'll never say them ever again. It's inexcusable, and disgusting, and really I don't even know why you're giving me a chance after all that, but-" She takes a moment to breathe, and to pray to Agni above that she doesn't devolve once again into a stupid, bumbling mess, "I think... I needed you. When you left, it sort of undid me. Now I think about it, I think, you needed to leave. To show me what a monster I had become."

Ty Lee's face at once goes from hopeful to thunderous. "You are _not_ a monster Azula. Never say that. _Never_."

Blinking back at her, Azula raises an eyebrow, "But I am. I am a monster. I had left to commit _murder_ , Ty Lee, and not once did I feel remorse about it."

"And now?" She demands, face resolute, "How do you feel about it now?"

What an odd question to ask. Azula frowns at Ty Lee, the answer feeling as obvious as breathing. "It's one of my greatest regrets. I killed those people for no reason. There was no reason for them to die." Ty Lee beams. Azula raises an eyebrow. Then it hits her like a boulder. "Oh."

Tentative hands come to cup her face, and Ty Lee fills her vision. "See? You're not a monster." She whispers. 

For the first time in quite a while, Azula leans into the touch freely given, eyes fluttering shut at the warmth that permeates throughout her face. Something like weightlessness briefly fills the heavy, gaping holes in her chest.

_Not a monster._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen i love the teashop, its elite and im using it to my goddamn hearts content  
> if yall came for Tyzula, dw theres more on the way, im sorry theres so much Plot getting between Azula and Ty Lee kissing but the government are going to take me out if i dont write this stupid thing  
> 


	3. Ba Sing Se- upper ring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember the plot ? its here now

Near two weeks after Ty Lee and Mai begin working at the Twin Dragons, a prospector comes to them. If it wasn't obvious that he was wealthy with the two guards flanking him, he was also resplendent in silks and fine tailoring. Just one look at the mans' face and Zuko knew he was from the upper ring. 

He watches from a distance as Azula talks with the man, seeing the tell-tale gleam in her eyes and the smirk that was slowly creeping onto her face, and knowing that this was something big. After they leave, Azula gathers them together, victoriously telling them that yes, they had been given a new teashop, and yes, it was in the upper district. They agree to move the very next day, taking their scant belongings with them and handing the teashop over to the prospector as a confirmation of their deal. It takes a day or so to get settled, the large building already furnished and glittering by the time they get toured through it.

Zuko supposes he should be more excited at the move than he is, but the excitement of a new shop is eclipsed by the prospect that they were getting closer and closer to the Palace. The ultimate goal. It was indisputable that it was getting more dangerous, and he was worrying.

For Mai, and Ty Lee, and in part for Azula. The two women had no clue what they were truly getting into, and Azula... What she was planning rested solely on her own ability, and Zuko could begin to see it wear away at her.

From their information and observations, the Dai Li spanned the entire city, and they ruled them all with the same system of fear. Only the richest of the citizens got to profit off the isolation, using it as a means to dominate the markets and have no one to rise up against them - how could they, when a single word of the war or the outside world would get you permanently taken away? 

In lieu of their move, Azula had taken to concocting more plans than Zuko can keep track of - briefly, he laments his demand to be kept in the loop. Her brain sometimes worked too fast for him to follow.

After their opening day, a fairly successful affair all things considered, he finds Azula shrugging on her gear, the blue dragon mask resting precariously on her head whilst she tied her feet with black fabric.

Ty Lee hovered nearby, still in her work outfit and looking a little uncomfortable. In juxtaposition, Mai was sat primly on the couch looking utterly at ease, flicking idly through a book as Azula finished her preparations.

When everything seemed to be in order, Azula straightens. "I'll be back before sunrise." She murmurs. 

Zuko grunts and flops onto the couch beside Mai. "Tell Chunu I said hi." Mai tucks her head onto his shoulders and he moves to wrap an arm around her.

Ty Lee cocks her head. "Who's Chunu?"

Sometimes Zuko forgets that they were mostly in the dark about what they were doing. It was for their own safety, but with the weeks they'd spent together it almost felt like they already knew everything.

Most of the information Azula had given them was of Lu Ten's network. The knowledge had briefly shocked them, which was generally the preferred reaction. After Lu Ten's crippling, the honours of the title of General had been taken away. Lu Ten had been forced into assuming half-waved Prince duties, being almost publicly humiliated by the change but outvoted by the bigoted council at the time. So, with Iroh's blessing, he had established a network that spanned half the world.

It was a little inspiring, Zuko thought, that he had acknowledged that his country underestimated him, and had used that disguise to become one of the most powerful men in the world.

The rest they knew was that they were trying to get to the King, and there was going to be a battle - all of the very basics.

"One of Lu Ten's men. Good man. Big." 

Azula nods, standing up and pulling the mask down over her face. From a distance, she could be assumed a man, what with the dark figure she made out. After a brief flourish of her hands, she jogs onto the balcony and vaults into the night.

As her form disappears over the buildings, Ty Lee sighs from beside him. "Does it always feel like this?"

"What does?" Zuko cocks his head, allowing Mai to tuck herself a little more firmly under his neck.

"The waiting. Like an exam you haven't studied for."

"Azula can handle herself." He lets out a derisive huff. 

"I _know_ that. Just-" At his puzzled expression she just nudges him in the arm, "Never mind."

They hear her come back through the balcony hours later. In that time, Ty Lee's worry had only increased, much to Zuko's increasingly frustrated replies. Apparently, his aura was worried for Azula, which meant that Ty Lee had to be worried too. Zuko silently curses his 'aura' and the fact that it was telling Ty Lee things without his permission.

The balcony door opens to reveal Azula with her mask already thrown off and hair uniquely mussed. Ty Lee, from where she had been standing on her hands beside Zuko and Mai, flips onto her feet and all but launches herself at Azula, wrapping the woman into a tight hug. 

It was nice to see them getting along. He didn't know when they started to, but it was nice nonetheless. 

To Zuko's vague amusement, Azula fumbles a little around Ty Lee's arms, face progressively becoming more flushed. Even if she being more open to physical affection recently, she was still awful at it. Showing mercy, Ty Lee pulls away to shift into grasping at Azula's biceps. The snort Mai lets out is pressed to his shoulder.

When their hushed talking tapers off, Zuko fumbles out of Mai's embrace to join them. The weight of the night was a heavy fatigue after staying awake for so long in order to make sure Azula got back alive. He wanted nothing more than to climb into bed, wrap up next to Mai, and sleep until sunset tomorrow.

"So, how did it go?" His voice was thick. 

Wearily dropping onto the kitchen table seats, Azula pulls the satchel strapped to her leg and drops it onto the table. "Fine. Odd." 

"Odd?"

"There's been a lot of chatter around Lake Laogai. Which is, as I said, odd. Here," She pulls out a few sheafs of paper, "look at these."

He reaches forward to rifle through the stolen papers. From the corner of his eye, he sees Ty Lee stare at Azula before moving to bang about in the kitchen. The ciphers and messages she'd stolen were far longer and detailed then before. As Zuko leafs through them, his frown only grows. As she had said, there was a surprising amount of talk surrounding Lake Laogai. 

The seat below Azula creaks as she leans back. "The King is alive, by the way." 

"Oh. So... it's on for plan A then?"

"I'd prefer to wait and find out more about this lake but we simply don't have the time. While we bumble about here, the war rages. It's only a matter of time before Ozai makes another move."

At the mention of the war, Zuko jolts his head up. He had _forgotten_ about it, though he wasn't exactly sure how - it was _the war_. Inside the walls of Ba Sing Se, you could almost go about your life without having to ever think about it. On top of that, Azula and himself had been living here for close to a month now, it wasn't that hard to forget about it. At his shocked expression, Azula gives him a weak eye roll. 

"Seriously Zuzu? It's the reason why we're even here."

"I know _that_. It's just..." If he were being honest, he wasn't quite sure what he meant. The time they'd spent here had been _good,_ somehow. More enjoyable than he'd ever think it would be. Just living with Azula and Mai and Ty Lee without the weight of being a member of the royal family, or being a politician, or knowing that everything he did would be done under the scrutiny of an entire nation.

Mai's hand is sudden on his shoulder, her presence, as usual, a calming balm. "You could live a normal life here."

There's a note of longing in her voice that makes him feel guilty. They'd never be normal, any of them, and Zuko knew - his destiny lay inside glided palace walls. But sometimes it was nice to just pretend like he belonged here. That Mai and him could live a life not under a magnifying glass. 

"Yeah."

Azula waves a hand at them. "Normal is subjective."

"Oh c'mon," Zuko raises a challenging eyebrow at her aloof expression, "You've never wanted, for a _single second_ , to just be an average person? Not a General, or a Princess, or a solider?"

The silence that lingers between them is weighted. At times like these, Zuko feels his heart ache a little for his sister - that she didn't even _allow_ herself to think outside of what she had to do and had to be.

After a beat, Azula scowls. "It'll never happen, so why would I waste my time thinking about such fantasies?"

"That's not a no."

She blinks at them. Ty Lee is the one to shift their attentions, placing four steaming cups onto the table in between all of the papers with a gentle smile. With only two seats and both currently unavailable to her, she simply perches on the table by Azula. 

"What are we talking about?"

" _Not_ normality." Azula levels a glare at Zuko and Mai. "We need to start planning our approach."

A huff sounds from Mai. "Right. _Tactics_. Why can't this wait until tomorrow?" 

"Hmm. I suppose if you both are _so_ tired we can start this in the morning." It would of been a bit more biting, if Azula hadn't obviously been repressing a yawn whilst she said it.

Without another word, Mai turns and all but runs into their bedroom. Zuko snorts. Of course she needed her beauty sleep - he'd learned that years ago when he had tried to wake her up at sun rise one time and had nearly been stabbed in return. Ty Lee giggles with him behind her cup, then looks forlornly at Mai's abandoned one. 

"That's rude, she just left it." 

"It's fine Ty Lee, she has a pet firebender," She waves her hand at Zuko, "to warm it up tomorrow."

Only barely does Zuko resist the urge to splutter. Instead, he levels a glare at Azula. "If I'm her pet, you're Ty's, Lala."

With great satisfaction, Zuko watches Azula's entire face go a particular shade of red. Ty Lee outright laughs, darting glances between her and Zuko.

The look on Azula's face morphs into something red-tinted and murderous as she stands up, hands planted flat on the table. "If I could use my firebending, you'd be _dead_ right now Zuzu. Be thankful that the Earth Kingdom saved you."

There's a glint in Ty Lee's eye that can only be described as wicked. "'Zula! Don't be mean just because he's right."

A laugh bursts from his chest. Azula spins to face her with her eyes comically wide. "What- that's not-" Ty Lee grabs her hand and begins hauling Azula to her room, "I'm not your _pet!_ "

"There's no need to be _ashamed '_ Zula. Being my pet is a very important job. C'mon let's get some rest."

"But- _together?_ Wait-" The door closes and Azula's protests are muted. 

Zuko finishes laughing long after they had left.

* * *

_Blood soaks her hands, the blade slicing cleanly through the Captain's throat. Azula smiles, over his shoulder Ozai stands._

_He praises her, his smile genuine, and Azula preens. He would be pleased._

_She'd done exactly what he had asked, and now she would come home and he would be Firelord and they would rule together, Azula at his side, where she belongs._

_The body drops, disappears from her grip. Warm blood paints her face. Ozai had his arms open, welcoming. She was perfect, she was perfect for him. That's all she needed to do, needed to be. Nothing else mattered, it was what she was born to be._

_Azula steps into his arms. The embrace was hot, burning like flames. A sword slices through her ribs. She looks up. Three faces sneer back, stretching into too wide smiles._

_'Ozai sends his regards' they chant. They twist the sword._ _Azula is on the ground now, on a blackened field. It hurts. The sword sticks into the ground behind her._

_'He doesn't want you anymore'_

_Behind them, her father now stands. He's scowling._ _'You were the loose end' He hisses. Azula cries._ _Was she not perfect? Had she not done everything he asked? Was she not his perfect daughter? '_ _You fulfilled your usefulness.'_

_That was what she wanted, right? To be useful? To be used?_

_Pain fuzzes her vision. Ozai swirls, all around, his face thousand fold and chanting._

_'Useless foolish child' he chants and chants and chants, 'What use are you to me now?'_

_She didn't know. She **didn't** **know**. What was she, if she wasn't his daughter to be used?_

_'No one will care when you die'_

_Azula screams._

Her eyes snap open to her bedroom ceiling, breath coming out short and panicked. Cold sweat covered her body. Confusion washes over her as she wakes up not to a field of blood and war, but to an all too quiet room. Tinnitus rings in her ears along with the rapid beat of her heart. Mixed with the hurricane of emotion trapped in her chest, Azula feels dizzy. 

Ty Lee slumbered peacefully beside her. On shaking hands, Azula hauls herself upward. Night still lingered outside her window, the city as quiet it can be. Azula grunts, swings her legs over the bed and stands. Slowly, the terror and confusion was fading

The scar on her ribs mocks her with phantom pains. She clasps a hand over it to silence the sharp pull. 

Nightmares like that were not an uncommon occurrence, haunting her almost nightly to mock her failures. It was uncommon however to have on just as vivid as that one. At least she had not dreamt of the day after those moments. That was truly the worst of the nightmares, a living hell that follows her. Most were simply her father, or Ursa, mocking all the things she wasn't. Rare nights, the one that mocks her is herself.

She shuffles into the kitchen, and goes about finding something to satiate the desert her mouth had become, accepting that she simply isn't sleeping tonight. Like many nights, Azula plans to find a book, and read until Agni shines upon her again.

After a few minutes of fumbling in the dark she hears Zuko's door open. Azula tenses, waiting for her brothers confused grumbling.

"Nightmare?" Comes the voice of Mai. 

Relief and confusion wash over her in equal measure. How did Mai know? More importantly, why was she awake at such a time?

Azula spins around to face the woman. Bereft of her usual hairstyle and makeup, Mai looked surprisingly domestic. A black robe was clinched around her waist, and Azula briefly curses herself that she didn't at least throw a shirt over her chest band. The scar was painfully visible, though Mai doesn't look down to study it.

Joining her in the kitchen, Mai leans back. Azula blinks at her.

"Why are you awake?"

Mai shrugs, then turns to rattle around in the cupboards. Pulling out a cup, she fills it with water and then juts it out to her. Azula takes a second to look at it as Mai wiggles it back and forth. "A little help?" Azula wordlessly wraps her hand around it, careful not to brush Mai's fingers, and channels her Chi to warm the water. When it steams, Mai pulls it away and plops a few leaves of jasmine tea into it. 

"Thanks. And, nightmares too."

Surprise flits over her for a brief moment. She wasn't quite sure where their relationship stood, her and Mai. It had been years since they had last truly been friends, and even then she hadn't been the kindest. Or kind at all. After that, Azula had just assumed that Mai had rejected their friendship completely, and since she hadn't been pushing it, there it would stay. The fact that she's opening up doesn't escape Azula. 

It confuses her. What could Mai stand to gain from her?

"You have nightmares?"

Mai hums. She takes a sip of tea and leans back onto the counter top. "About my family, mostly. Being alone, being silenced. Pretty regular too."

"I-oh. I didn't know."

"Not many people do. Just Zuko, Ty Lee and my handmaiden. Oh, and you now."

Azula squints. This was very personal information, and she knew for a fact that Mai was an extremely distant person. "Why are you telling me this?"

Mai shrugs again. Her face is carefully blank. "I thought it might help. Ty Lee told me you have them every night."

The urge to scowl is squashed by something far warmer, sitting in her chest. Ty Lee had noticed, and she had _cared_. It's more than she ever expected, more than she deserves.

Weighing through the pros and cons, Azula considers telling Mai. She wasn't Zuko, with his righteousness and impulsiveness, or Ty Lee with her bleeding heart and caring. No, this was Mai. Apathetic Mai who wouldn't blow up at her, or demand they get vengeance, or cry tears of pity she simply didn't want. Azula didn't want to show off this weakness to the others. It was too much, too fast.

Maybe what she needed was someone who wouldn't react at all. Who didn't care.

Azula takes a steadying breath, and tells her. Of Ozai and the wound and the days after. Of how he had left her for dead, of betrayal, of the sheer unbearable agony of a day of just dying. The regularity of the nightmares, the way she always wakes up not with a scream, but with her breath left dying on her tongue. 

Mai doesn't say a word, no horrified looks or crying or anger at the injustice. Just a blank face and ears to listen. By the end of it, Mai's cup is empty, and Azula's throat is twinging. 

Eventually Mai puts down her cup. "Thanks for telling me. And, that sucks."

Azula smiles a little and finds in genuine. It was as much as she would get from Mai and it suited her just fine. The frenzy of emotion that sat in her chest was gone, replaced with a tired hollowness that felt good. Freeing.

"Why did you listen?" 

Mai turns away, walking back to Zuko's door. Her hand comes to rest on the handle, and she pauses. "I know what it's like. Feeling like you can't talk to anyone. I think sometimes, you need someone to just listen." Then she pulls it open and slips inside, and Azula is alone once again.

The image of Mai in her mind was suddenly something malleable. A woman plagued by nightmares, who somehow understood what Azula was feeling. That was a feeling she wasn't used to. And, maybe she did care, maybe she didn't - but as it stood, it seems like Mai is... here for her. As an ear to listen.

Azula blinks into the air. She should probably apologise. Clear the air. It was the least she could do.

When she settles into bed, Ty Lee stirs with a murmur, deep in sleep. Azula shifts to look at her sleeping face, and reaches to smooth away strands of her messy bangs. 

The night, for once, is dreamless. In the morning she makes Mai a cup of jasmine tea.

* * *

Azula checks her flank as Zuko vaults ahead of her. Nights in Ba Sing Se are rarely dark, but the approach up to the royal palace was positively devoid of civilisation. They hasten through, engulfed in darkness. At regular intervals they encounter guards posted along the grounds, the men patrolling through the vast gardens surrounding the palace that they dart through.

Her deep breaths sounded monstrously loud thanks to her mask and the permanence of silence around them as they finally approach the grand building complex. Zuko halts them as he scans the main fortification surrounding the palace. Then, in a silent hand motion, they begin to scale it.

With their backup, Mai and Ty Lee, on standby near the first wall separating the upper and royal districts, the guard rotation memorised, and the layout of the palace on hand, Azula finds it easy to get into the palace grounds.

Perhaps a little _too_ easy, but the niggling sense that something is wrong is quashed under anticipation.

After days of planning, they were finally to infiltrate the royal palace. And as it currently stood, the odds were stacked against them. It wouldn't do to back out now, no this was the killing blow. But still, as Zuko hoists her up onto the roof of the palace, a roil of unease remains. Azula didn't get nerves, it wasn't her nature to, but with so much riding on their success, a pit of uncomfortable nausea had developed in her stomach. It threatens to throw her off balance, but she wills herself not to be deterred. 

It was to be a perfectly planned siege. She had already sent a covert message to Lu Ten ordering him to muster their forces outside of Ba Sing Se, which would be present within the week. In three parts - the drill, which Lu Ten's men would sabotage from the inside, the siege itself, which was only planned to last four days at most, and finally, the grand battle, which would leave both sides appropriately devastated. That's when her ceasefire would come into effect.

Azula had also planned at least a few fail safes and alternatives just in case. But all of it rested on the fact that Azula would have manipulated the king into agreeing to it. All of it rested on her. 

Stakes had never been higher - seeing as her very redemption was hinging on her success.

Once they find the flimsy tiling reported in the east corner of the palace, Zuko gives her the short, two fingered salute that gets her into action. With more pleasure than she expects, Azula channels her Chi into a blue-almost-white flame and cuts a neat square into the roof. It opens, as expected, into a small loft space that she quickly drops into, Zuko on her heels. Both inside, Zuko shifts the cut roof back into place, and Azula takes the lead, weaving through the roof space. 

A few minutes later, and she's dropping into an abandoned storage room.

Silent, Zuko lands beside her and shifts his mask upward. 

"Was your fire _white_?" 

Azula shrugs at him and takes off her own mask. "What can I say, I'm enthusiastic." 

"Only you would make that sound gross." He huffs "Right, to work then."

Answering in a nod, Azula turns to the bag strapped to her back. Inside was a set of servant robes matching Zuko's own pair, that had been tailored to their measurements by a brilliant man named only 'Serpent.' Safely assumed to be one of Lu Ten's numerous contacts, it would be exactly what they needed to sneak through the palace. 

Only one thing had been left to chance - the location of the King's personal quarters. He was present in the palace, Azula knew that much, as well as being heavily guarded at all times. Other than that, it was up to trail and error. Hopefully, they would find it within the scant hours they had and safely assume their places as servants turned informants for the King. After that, Azula knows it'll only be a matter of a few weeks before the siege will begin. King or not, she was the Princess General, he would bow to her whims as had everyone else.

Zuko changes first, stuffing his clothes into a discarded box before moving to check the corridor. After Azula follows suit, they slip out of the room and begin to wander the corridors. To be more natural, Azula makes idle small-talk with Zuko as they walk, intently aware of her own body-language and fine tuning it as they weave through the building. It was far more suspicious to be two completely mute servants, everyone who was anyone knew that they gossiped. It was the nature of such a dull job. 

Twice do they pass patrolling guards, who barely spare them a second glance. It rankles her a little that Zuko was as tense as he was, but figures she could play it off well enough that she doesn't comment. 

After what Azula assumes is an hour or so of walking, they encounter a Dai Li agent. The man lingers, oddly, at a criss-cross of hallways. It wasn't like them to be out in the open, but Azula doesn't want to chance it. At her subtle signal Zuko darts to the side and lead them both into a side passage. One that, if she remembers correctly, lead to the kitchens.

Though, as they emerge from the passageway, Azula finds herself in the throne room. 

A throne room filled with Dai Li and a man in the midst of them. His back was turned.

Azula grabs Zuko's hand and squeezes tight, a silent warning. Attempting to slip back out is in vain, as two Dai Li drop down in front of the passageway. She allows them to be herded into the centre of the grand hall, careful to mask the rising panic and dread that was beginning to build.

"So," The man begins, back still facing them, " _You_ are the two meddling children my Dai Li have been following."

So they _had_ been discovered. Humiliation washes over her in equal measure with sheer anger at herself. A slave to his emotions, Zuko moves forward - either to argue or fight, she's not entirely sure. Nonetheless Azula manacles him back, face schooled impassive. Subtly, she shakes her head. 

They'd made a mistake, they couldn't afford to make more.

"I am Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and Cultural protector of our city."

 _Leader of the Dai Li,_ he doesn't say, but Azula can read the man's body language like a book. He was languid with power, and a level of arrogance carried in his voice that only one who thought he had won would articulate. Immediately, Azula thinks of ways to get out of here. A man like this was something that called for preparation, time, a plan.

Her eyes dart to the Dai Li flanking him: eight in total, and more dotted around the pillars of the throne room. Sorely outnumbered, then. Azula grits her teeth. Only one of them could have a chance of getting out.

She knew exactly who was going to be caught, and ignores the roil of unease that follows that conclusion. It wasn't up for debate who was leaving and who was staying, that much she knew without even thinking about it. Perhaps it was foolish, but Azula didn't care. 

"You have intrigued me, I must admit," Finally he turns, eyes lingering on them both. Azula looks away in mock fear, and doesn't miss the twitch of his mouth. A man of court games he may be, but Azula was a master at these games. "Two refugees who somehow have the skill and talent to break into the royal palace? Impressive indeed."

With his attention just slightly off of her, Azula shifts, and uses the movement to grab the handles of the throwing knives Mai had given her. Their window of opportunity would be _very_ short.

"What do you want?" Zuko barks.

Long Feng begins to step down from the slightly raised platform he stood upon, sizing them up. "If I am not mistaken, you two are from the Fire Nation." Without even having to prompt him, Zuko inhales just sharply enough to confirm his words. "As I thought. There is no war in Ba Sing Se of course, but spies? We cannot tolerate this. As protector of our culture, I'm afraid we will have to take you in for questioning." 

Pathetic, Azula almost spits. She holds her tongue, but just barely. His arrogance and theatrics was quickly beginning to grate on her. Though it was undoubtedly an advantage to be underestimated, Azula hated playing into helplessness. It was demeaning. 

But, as Long Feng turns around, his unfortunate disposition plays into her advantage. The moment he does, waving a lazy hand in their direction, Azula strikes.

With a masterful flick of her wrist, Azula throws her knives at the two Dai Li behind them. They stagger, each blade embedded in their throats. Before anyone notices them fall, Azula grasps Zuko and breaks into a sprint. 

Chaos erupts behind them as she runs toward the end of the hall. The double doors at the end are blessedly open, beckoning them. Zuko shakes out of her grip to run faster, dodging the earth that begins to rise below their feet, and the flying earthen hands by their heads.

As they near, Azula only laments her fate for a brief moment, then slows. She watches Zuko barrel through the doors then skids to a stop. Grasping the doors' handles, she slams them shut and melts the wrought metal into a mess of iron, ensuring no one could come in or out.

Azula breathes out in muted relief as she hears his rapid footsteps fade out.

Why would Long Feng incriminate the throne room by destroying the doors, when he had one of the two spies in his grasp? With his arrogance, she knows he won't care too much when Zuko escapes. It's what she's hinging this on.

At the very least, Zuko was safe. After all he had given, Azula could finally pay him back.

Softly sighing, the first of the Dai Li's earth hands begins to collide into her back.

"Being good feels fucking horrible." 

* * *

It's only when Zuko is outside of the palace does he notice that Azula isn't with him.

Frantic, fluttering panic erupts in his chest, so much to almost be unbearable. Desperate, he scans the roofs, the palace walls, anywhere, for a single glimpse of Azula. That she got out safe.

He couldn't leave her. He _couldn't_. 

When he can't see her, when his panic is strangling him, he begins to run back into the palace. If she hadn't escaped, she was with that man, Long Feng, and who knows what he would be doing to her.

With that thought in mind, he runs all the faster toward the palace. A hand slams into his chest before he can get through the doorway. On instinct, he pulls out his concealed knives and swipes at the Dai Li.

Ty Lee's hand comes to stop him, Mai beside her and face a storm.

"Where's Azula? We need to get out of here _now_." Mai hisses.

Movement sounds from above, and Ty Lee shoves them both into a concealed alcove. Dai Li flit past, a few stones clattering down from the disturbance. Content that they had passed, Zuko tries to leave again. Mai's hand stops him again.

"Are you _crazy_?"

Zuko bats her hand away. He didn't have _time_ for this. "Azula is _still in there_. I need to go back."

"If we don't leave now, we'll all be captured with her." At his indignant growl, Mai grasps his face. In any other moment it would be calming. "Zuko, it's _Azula_. She'll be fine." Even as she says it, Zuko knows she's lying.

Azula was many things, but she wasn't impervious to everything. He wasn't sixteen and stupid anymore. Mai knows that, she must, with the way her expression wavers just a little. Her eyes spoke volumes.

To his surprise, Ty Lee drops into a fierce glower. "We _have_ to go back, Mai."

Looking more frustrated than he had ever seen her, Mai throws up her hands. "If we go in there, we _die_. Do you have a plan? Do you have _any_ idea of how to get Azula away from the entire Dai Li?" At their silence, Mai huffs, then points out of the palace. "We can figure out how to get her back when we escape, alive."

Zuko hates this. He hates knowing that he's failed Azula. That she's in there, and he isn't there to stop them. That she could be dead, and he'd let it happen. It sits like an immovable boulder, deep in his gut. Hadn't she already suffered enough? Hadn't both of them?

The journey back to the teashop is an excruciatingly long one. The Dai Li on high alert meant the entire district was crawling with them, like fireflies to flames they swarmed. And with what had just happened, they had to be extra cautious - only moving when truly certain they were safe and taking long, drawn out routes in order not to be followed. But finally, eventually, they stumble back into their apartment.

His body ached, but his mind was alight, doused in guilt. Ty Lee looked much the same, taking to fiddling with every damn thing available. Only Mai seemed put together, but after courting her for so long, he could see the strained way she held herself. The room was deathly silent.

Zuko doesn't sleep that night. Or the next two that come after it. 

Argument after argument ensues, until they all finally, unwillingly, agree that if Azula was alive, it was suicide to try and go back for her immediately. The Dai Li would be on extremely high alert, combing through both the royal and upper rings in order to find Zuko. It doesn't stop him from trying to go back out, but every time he tries to, Ty Lee is there to drag him back to the shop.

He hates it. He hates the guilt, he hates the way Mai shuts down after the first night, he hates the way Ty Lee stops being so bubbly, he hates it all. Each night, he can hear the muffled sobs through his bedroom wall as Ty Lee sleeps in Azula's bedroom. Each night, he lies next to Mai, both equally awake as each other, and just listens to her cries. 

Talking devolves into more arguments - his snapping temper rearing it's ugly head in the stress of the situation they'd landed themselves in - so they simply say nothing at all.

It's for the best that they decide not to reopen the shop in their current states. It would most likely drive away customers to begin with, but Zuko uses the days they have to try and plan what to do. It's not all too successful, but the ideas they create are better than nothing.

After the third day of waiting, Zuko decides they've done enough waiting.

Though, as it turns out, Ty Lee is the one to break their silence. All three in the kitchen space, choking in silence, Ty Lee stands and turns to them.

"So... What's the plan? How do we get Azula back?"

"I don't know. She won't be in the palace." Mind a mess of half thoughts as it had been for days now, he runs a frustrated hand through his hair. 

Mai rolls her eyes at them both. "Right, so we just have to search, what? All of Ba Sing Se?"

Bouncing on her heels, Ty Lee does a succinct cartwheel toward them. "Why don't we grab one of the Dai Li? Surely they'd know." She lands with perfect feet and a furrow in her brow.

Zuko sighs, leaning back. It wasn't like he'd also thought of that, but if Azula had warned him against the idea _before_ they had gotten into this mess, he wasn't going to do it now. "Too risky. They'll be looking for us."

"We can't just keep on doing nothing!" She crosses her arms.

It surprises him a little. He isn't used to seeing Ty Lee angry - it was like seeing Mai laugh in front of her parents. A possibility, sure, but he'd never seen it before, so wasn't ever quite sure it could happen.

"I'm not _saying_ that. Just... we need to be smart. We need to think like Azula."

Scoffing, Mai waves a hand toward him. "Because that's easy to do." 

"I'm sorry, do _you_ have a better alternative?"

Mai scowls at him, a definite no. 

Combing through his memories, Zuko tries to imagine what Azula would do in a situation like this. Two scenarios pop into his head, of old and new Azula - like the twin dragons of good and evil. One laughs at their misfortune, gives Mai and Ty Lee over and sides with the Dai Li, effectively asserting her into power. It would solve the problem of the Dai Li and would kill them. The other, the one of the blue dragon, uses Chunu.

But it would be far too risky to use the network with the Dai Li on high alert. Even if they could get to them, they would probably not have the information he needed, and the clock was ticking.

Both ideas were useless then. Disappointment, directly mostly at himself, courses through him. He was her _brother_ for Agni's sake, why couldn't he think like Azula for just a second? 

Then it hits him.

"Rul." Zuko breathes. "He'll know."

* * *

Originally, he had planned to go to Rul alone - not only to avoid having to explain the presence of a dragon, but because the two girls would slow him down. They were on the clock, and the more time he wasted, the more Azula could be hurt. 

Getting to the rundown town he was in was easy enough once he steals an ostrich-horse, arriving within two hours of leaving the city. After dismounting and tying his mount, he heads towards the dilapidated buildings.

If he were being honest, a level of fear clung to him. He'd only seen Rul three times, and each one had been with Azula stood beside him. It wasn't beyond belief that Rul would simply breathe fire at him as soon as he was found. It was also possible that Rul wasn't even the village, which would leave him at square one.

Zuko doesn't know what he'd do if he wasn't here.

The houses he searches through are abandoned, burnt out husks of their former glory. If it weren't for the age of the charred wood, Zuko would of assumed it was Rul who had done such devastation. But with the past of the Fire Nation, he knows that his own people did this. There's an irony here that he ignores.

When they turn out empty, Zuko begins to trace the outskirts. Keeping to the shadows in case he really had been followed, the dark silhouettes of the houses leads him around the entire town, to no avail.

It's only when Zuko gives up, the sinking feeling in his chest taking grip, does Mai and Ty Lee appear from the distance. Zuko nearly breathes fire out of rage alone, watching them dismounting their own ostrich-horses, chatting intermittently as they do.

In the seconds before they notice him, Zuko lets out a burst of frustration through his Chi. Then he hears Ty Lee's exclamations and spins to face them. 

"What are you doing here?" He barks, narrowing his eyes. Ty Lee stutters to a stop from her jog toward him.

Mai joins her, crossing her arms. "Following you, idiot. Do you really think we'd let you disappear off alone?"

"Yeah, dummy." Ty Lee crosses over to poke Zuko in the chest. "Besides, who is this mysterious 'Rul'? Azula's boyfriend? She never mentioned him before." It's said with a pout. 

The mental image of _Rul_ being Azula's boyfriend is a little too funny than it should be. About to laugh, Zuko remembers that he's supposed to be angry and shakes his head. "No. And I don't need to be babysat."

Letting out a truly impressive huff, Mai wanders forward. "So that isn't what she was doing before we got here?"

Zuko watches Ty Lee spin around, inspecting the empty buildings, before turning back around to look at him. 

" _No_." He paces forward to grasp Mai's forearm. "It's not safe for you to be here."

"Don't be so dramatic. It's a ghost town."

Before he can answer, a biting retort on his tongue borne of frustration, Ty Lee audibly gulps. Something was moving, blotting out the sun. Something with wings and a body that bent into serpentine shapes. "Uh, guys? What is that?"

As the shape gets closer, the shadowed lines of it's body bleed into blue fur and scales. Zuko breathes out a sigh of relief at the sight of Rul's majesty. With him, he could find Azula, and everything would be okay. She wouldn't die. Their mission would be a success.

The dragon lands with a grand thump, lips peeled over sharp fangs and snarling at the intruders. Before Ty Lee can say anything, Zuko darts forward. He raises his hands in an attempt to placate Rul, and prays to Agni that he recognised him. The dragon, thankfully, stops snarling.

Slow, like a fox-antelope, Rul dips his head to meet Zuko. Unbeknownst, Zuko's hands begin to shake as Rul snuffs at them.

Zuko entirely ignores the unfurling fear in his chest, and tentatively, slowly, reaches out to press his hands to his massive head. The rumbles Rul makes vibrate through his entire hand, travelling down and into his chest. It almost felt as if his inner flame was blazing to match the strength of heat that radiated off of Rul into his palms.

"Can you feel her?" Rul gives an affirmative huff, one of his ears flicking. "We need you to lead us to her. She's in danger."

The answer he gets is in the form of a low growl. Then, more swiftly than Zuko was expecting, Rul lifts his head upward until he towers above the three of them - Zuko stumbling back at the abruptness of the action. He unfurls his wings and faces upward toward the sun, serpentine body shadowing the light. The dragon closes his eyes and makes a long, grating noise. The air almost seems to shiver in front of him, though it could be the residual adrenaline coursing through him.

As Rul continues his call, something he was beginning to feel in his own bones, Zuko slowly recognises that whatever he was doing felt ancient, powerful. 

Beside him, Ty Lee steps forward. "Blue..." 

"What?"

"It's... Azula's aura used to be red. It's blue now, exactly like this dragon's is. Two souls," She marvels at him, "They're connected."

Zuko grunts. "If it helps us find my sister, I don't care what colour he looks like."

Ty Lee ignores him, approaching Rul in slow steps. The strange call Rul was singing finishes in a shuddering keen that leaves Zuko's ears ringing.

When Rul seemingly notices Ty Lee, he begins to shifts himself to look down on at her - who reaches up to him with steady hands and not an ounce of hesitation. Rul bows to level his eyes at Ty Lee's own in a way that seems contemplative, then he nudges forward, snuffing Ty Lee's face with a sort of gentle curiosity that looked utterly strange from such a big creature. Back turned from them, Zuko can't see Ty Lee's face, but can see the way she strokes at his fur. 

They didn't have time for this. Minutes wasted were minutes that could be used finding Azula.

He starts forward, set with the intent to break up Ty Lee's little moment with Rul, but gets stopped by Mai before he can reach them. A bemused frown is thrown at her. Mai simply says nothing and uses his silence to slip her hand into his. The momentary relief that flashes through him at Mai's slight affection, that they weren't locked in another nonsensical argument, calms him a little.

"What are they even doing?"

"Just give her a moment." 

"We don't _have_ a moment." Zuko glares at the dragon. Mai just shrugs at his shoulder.

Side by side, they watch Ty Lee lean in, murmuring something under her breath. Rul's purrs drown out whatever she was saying. Zuko pulls his hand away from Mai's in building frustration and marches up to her. He grabs Ty Lee's shoulder and yanks her around, shocked when he finds her eyes glistening. There's grin on her face that's entirely ignorant of her tears.

"Uh, are you..." Zuko begins. Why was she smiling _and_ crying? 

Voice thick, Ty Lee beams at him. "Let's go get Azula back. She needs us."

He mutters a quiet, "Right," Then turns to Rul. "We'll be back tonight. Can you take us?"

He assumes the vibrating purr he gets in response is a yes.

As the sun sets over Ba Sing Se they leave the city's safe walls and begin to head back to Rul. The mountains cast long shadows that loom in his periphery. Even knowing that the Dai Li rarely, if ever, leave the city, Zuko keeps to watching their backs, and moving carefully through the rocky crags. In the very distance he spies the black fog of their incoming army, a silent clock ticking down to their fate. 

Throughout the entire way, Ty Lee asks about Rul. Zuko tries to answer best he can, considering each question and trying not to reveal anything too personal. There was a distinct feeling of overstepping when they all saw Rul. By the time they approach the village again, Zuko had just about run through every single thing he knew about the dragons to Ty Lee's inquisitive face.

At times like these, he thanks Agni that Mai's capacity for seeing weird stuff was extremely high - he didn't think he could take two people interrogating him at once.

Rul, thankfully, was sat upon a shadowed pile of rocks, not unlike the first time Zuko had ever seen him, molten eyes open and burning as they approach him. Ty Lee almost skips toward the dragon to pet him pleasantly. Zuko sighs. Of course she would.

"C'mon, we're leaving."

"Okay! Mission save Azula is go."

A saddle already strapped to Rul's back, only the matter of climbing aboard presented an issues. Ty Lee, in all her acrobatic grace, settles with ease onto Rul. Zuko follows along, far less graceful, behind her, reaching out a hand to help Mai up. They sit sandwiched together, Mai in the middle, and hold on tight. 

Rul soars into the air with little prompt, only a few flaps of his great wing-span propelling them up into the sky, the angle all but vertical. Instinctively, Zuko flails out to clasp Mai's waist, who does much the same to Ty Lee. The rushing air pushes him back with a force that's entirely unexpected, and it's all he can do to cling tighter to Mai.

When they even out from the vertical propulsion, and into a more languid speed, Zuko finally leans back to look about them. 

It was utterly beautiful. The sky was a deep midnight, accented with clouds that drift in pale wisps across the night. Above, the stars glittered, like grains of sand on a beach, stretching out as far as the eye could see. And below Rul, Earth kingdom country laid out as a map to the beholder. It takes his breath away.

The sheer dread and anxiety of the past few days almost falls off his shoulders as he stares down at the earth. Freeing, and yet somehow humbling - it was no wonder Azula had built a 'connection' with Rul if this was her life atop him.

They soar for some time, their only accompaniment the bellowing of the wind and Rul's thundering wings. Zuko feels himself sober from his awe when they approach the walls of Ba Sing Se. Inside the insidious city, somewhere, was his sister. He refused to think otherwise. 

It only becomes apparent that their destination is Lake Laogai when Rul is all but over the great body of water. In any other circumstance, Zuko would scoff at the idea that she was in the lake, but he could almost hear one of Iroh's proverbs in his ears about the wisdom of dragons and the connections between two spirits.

When they snake over one side of the lake Rul dips, soaring in a great arc downwards. Instinct calls for him to lean with Rul, pressing flush to Mai as the great dragon spirals. Once they reach the ground, Zuko quickly shoves them all off of Rul.

"Where?" Rul swings his head to and fro, then looks down. As he begins snuffing the earth, the realisation washes over him. "Underground."

Rul's ear flicks as Ty Lee frowns. "What?"

"The Dai Li, they must have an underground base. That's why the messages Azula stole were filled with 'Lake Laogai'... It's their headquarters." 

"That's all well and good, but how do we get in?" Mai's voice is still a neutral drawl, but Zuko could swear there was a flicker of something in it.

"Well there's got to be a secret entrance or something, right?" Ty Lee plants her hands on her hips. "Shadowy people always have a cool lair."

Zuko shrugs in agreement. Despite the slightly childish framing, Ty Lee was right. It was a plan, at the very least - they would search and find it, or if not, it would be child's play to stake out the lake until some of the Dai Li returned and they could slip in. Either way, Azula was _here_. 

"Right. Rul, you need to leave, it's not safe." When the dragon doesn't budge, Zuko lays a hand on his snout. "Don't worry, we'll find her."

He growls, but takes off into the night sky. Together, they watch the shape of Rul disappear into the darkness of the sky. It's with no small amount of relief that Zuko sees him leave, content that Rul was safe. Besides, if he was captured Azula would kill him.

Together, they agree that Mai should stay to observe the lake whilst Ty Lee and himself would scout around to try and find a secret entrance of some sort. It was a little frustrating having next to no information but he'd gone off less and survived. It's only twenty minutes after they all split up that Zuko finds a suspicious looking patch of ground. Running his hands over it reveals that it's definitely newer than the surrounding earth, and that when he stamps on it, the dirt is far softer than the outside too.

He calls Ty Lee over, who appears in a flash, and gestures to the ground.

"Look."

"I... am? It's dirt Zuko."

"No, _look_ at it. It's slightly different. I bet if we dig this up, there will be some sort of tunnel beneath it."

"Oh. _Oh!_ Okay I'll get Mai."

By the time Zuko has dug a sizeable hole into the ground, Mai and Ty Lee show up. He'd had to do so with his hands, but once they kneel and begin to help, it's a matter of a few minutes before the dirt gives way to a dark tunnel. It wasn't all too steep, but obviously ran downwards toward the lake. Zuko takes a deep breath, brushes off the dirt from his hands, and vaults into the hole. 

Once he lands, he bends a sizeable flame in the palm of his hand, illuminating the unnaturally smooth sides of the tunnel in hues of orange and red. After a beat, Ty Lee and Mai drop down with him. 

"What should we do about the extra dirt?"

Zuko shrugs at Mai. "Leave it. Once we get Azula we'll need a quick way out anyway." Without another word Zuko begins to walk forward. He didn't know how far this tunnel went, but he was hedging his bets that it was fairly deep.

As they walk through the passageway, feeling the air get heavy with cold condensation, Ty Lee starts a conversation that both Zuko and Mai ignore. She was a nervous talker at the best of times, but with the current tension and anticipation that followed them as they get closer, Zuko can't find it in himself to talk back. No, the undercurrent of explosive anger that was so unfamiliar these days was a low boil in his stomach - it would be deceptively easy to fall back on his building anger and to scream at her. But he knew he was better than that, only the circumstance was tempting him back into old habits.

With that in mind, and with Ty Lee falling silent at her failed endeavour, they near the end of the tunnel. 

It opens out into a gloomy set of hallways edged with nothing but cold stone, and an odd green light that emanated from lanterns at each doorway. The first impression of this place was that it was a prison. From a first glance, it's exactly as Zuko would of pictured their headquarters to be - a little too dramatic and dour. 

Once they all emerge from the tunnel, something that seemed to be a fixture in one of the walls, Zuko holds up his hand. The upside to this foreign place was that noise seemed to echo from all around - meaning that you could hear anyone coming from a mile away. Satisfied he could hear no one, Zuko turns to the two women. 

"We'll have to search these cells. We don't have a lot of time, so be careful."

They both nod, Mai coming up to give him a quick kiss. "You be careful too, okay?"

"Got it. Let's move."

And so they all split up, walking in different directions. It was alarming how many of these cells were empty, considering the amount of arrests the Dai Li had made over the past years. Zuko's anxiety only grows as he walks on and on in this seemingly labyrinthine prison complex, each cell he passes more empty than the next. They all felt as identical as the last, the same condensation covered stone and square spaces.

After some time of simply walking, he begins to hear voices. Not the lull of conversation, but more a monotone hum of multiple voices, all carrying down the empty corridors. He freezes, but doesn't move to duck away. Something about it was... odd. They all carried the same lilt of inflection, as if they were all speaking the same words. Curiosity pulls at his chest, and without much thought, Zuko begins to approach the source of the voices.

That's when he sees an open cell door, filled with what must be two dozen women dressed exactly the same, all saying the same phrase over and over. Zuko takes one look at them - in what appears to be an odd sort of trance - and hurries away. If that was what they were doing to Azula...

No, he couldn't think of that. Ignited with new determination, and no small amount of fear, Zuko flits to each cell fast. 

Though, when he reaches the end of the hallway and is still without a single glimpse of his sister, Zuko feels a desperate sort of panic well in his chest. _Azula wasn't here._ If the others hadn't found her, then she could be dead. The possibility that she could be, one Zuko had been pushing away for the past three days, now dominated his mind. 

It would be _his_ fault, wouldn't it? He hadn't gone back, hadn't tried to save her. He should of fought them, killed every last Dai Li. They could of fought together and won and then she wouldn't be-

With an almost violent shake of his head, Zuko turns and runs back to where they began. They hadn't searched everywhere. He refused to give in to despair.

He finds Mai idling by the tunnel entrances and jogs over to her. The troubled look on her face doesn't raise his spirits one bit, even more so the way she was gripping tight around two daggers.

"Nothing?" 

She shakes her head, then turns to stare at where Ty Lee had disappeared to. "Zuko... this isn't good."

"I know." There's a level of desperation as he tugs her into a hug, resting his chin atop her head, needy for physical reassurance. The way she grips him only solidifies that. The hallways around them echo nothing but their own voices and the occasional drip of water. 

Then, along with it all, comes the all too recognisable scream of Ty Lee. They part briefly to stare at each other before taking off in the direction of the source. One long, winding corridor later, the pair emerge into a sizeable cavern. In the middle of said cavern was Ty Lee in a flurry of movement - flipping over the heads of a number of Dai Li agents. 

Already, two of the Dai Li laid crumpled by Ty Lee's hand, the rest stood in a tight circle. He watches the woman flip to high point in the cavern, whipping her head round with a flick of her braid to see them. The nod of her head is faint but present. 

It's without hesitation that Zuko pulls his Dao swords out of their sheathes, exactly as Mai begins flinging her first knives. He watches a few of the Dai Li dart out from their rigid formation toward them.

Meeting them with steel, he slashes through the first two earthen hands sent his way, the pair of Dai Li slamming their feet into the ground as he approaches. Zuko uses the momentum from the earth rising to his feet to leap forward, bringing on sword down on the left Dai Li. The man blocks with a second earthen hand, then using earthbending, jumps away from him as his partner does the same.

Zuko lands with a roll, head snapping up to meet the seven or eight Dai Li clustered in the middle of the cavern. Then he sees her.

In their arms was an unconscious Azula. Completely limp, one of the Dai Li had her slung across his shoulders. 

Ty Lee lands beside him, stance wide and aggressive, just as Zuko lets out a roar. 

They had his _sister_ , holding her like some _fucking ragdoll_. What they could of done to her...

In that moment, he sees red. He doesn't care about the Dai Li dropping down from the cavern ceiling, or Ty Lee speaking to him, or the way the earth around his feet trembles at the call of the Dai Li. In that moment, he runs forward without thought and kills as many of the bastards as possible. 

The first two nearest are impaled upon his swords and thrown off in mere seconds, their bodies discarded without care as Zuko flips through the others. He gets another in the stomach before they begin to react properly.

Of course, they tackle him, throwing earth at him with every furious swipe of his swords. First they trap his feet, then slam earth into his own hands hard enough that his Dao swords slip from his grip. 

When earth begins to encase his legs, Zuko snaps out of his rage. The ringing in his ears fades out, as does the red staining his vision, fizzling into the acute sense of fear. From where he was crumpled, he can see Azula's limp body.

If his ears where to be believed, Mai and Ty Lee were still here- if they got captured too they'd all be fucked. They couldn't go back to the teashop, no they needed somewhere safe. In that brief second, before they gag him, Zuko roars. "Find Ka!" 

He thanks Agni he can hear their footsteps disappear. Then everything goes black.

* * *

When he comes to, it's to the uncomfortable sensation of being dragged across a floor. As Zuko blinks awake to a far too bright room, he realises he's still gagged and bound with earth, being dragged so that he can only see behind the men pulling him. He struggles anyway, for the principal of the thing, even when one of the men dragging him kick his chest.

The only relief he can find in the entire situation was that neither Ty Lee nor Mai was with him. He hopes desperately that they had gotten out.

Once he gets bored of of struggling in vain, Zuko tries to recognise his surroundings. It looked to be somewhere with wealth, what with the pristine Earth Kingdom carpeting, high ceilings, and overall architecture. Trying to place exactly where is done in vain, but Zuko persists anyway.

That is until he's dragged into a throne room. _The_ throne room, the one he had stood in just days prior. A peculiar feeling of rage, fear, and shock all swirl in his head, making him vaguely ill. He's promptly thrown around, until he's half kneeling and half sprawled in front of the throne. For a stubborn second Zuko outright refuses to look at the smug asshole inevitably sat atop it. But when he does, his breath is knocked from his chest.

Stood at the King's side was _Azula_. 

Eyes narrowed and mouth at his ear, she gestures to Zuko. The Dai Li beside him bristle.

"A fire nation spy, your Majesty."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azula, probably, at some point: my friendship with Ty Lee is tactical ! my heart speeds up when i see her for Tactical reasons ! i daydream abt her for TACTICS ! ! i want to kiss her for STRATEGY, you wouldn't UNDERSTAND-  
> also sorry for MORE chapters but i keep on writing then splitting the chapters up. i am fool.


	4. Ba Sing Se- the royal palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee: and i will pepper in the fact that i am gay so me n Azula will kiss bc she is smart and will understand  
> Azula: is not smart  
> sorry for the wait ! this chapter was being difficult, and plot heavy ones take me longer so i apologise for any mistakes in this beast

Betrayal was an abstract construct. At least, that's how Zuko thought of it.

He'd been betrayed by many people over the years. Chief among them his father, for multiple reasons - his betrayal of parenting, of protection, of trust and of his sister... the list was endless. Others came in the forms of Captains on missions, men and women in the court, and early in his life Azula herself.

It was a strange thing, how it ate at his chest, even years after it had happened. Like a physical weight to carry with him, of people that never trusted him, of whom had forsaken him for their own selfish goals. Hard to let go, and even harder to experience, even with how often it happened, that particular pain never dulled.

Iroh had said that letting go of the anger and pain that came with betrayal was the ultimate sign of humility and forgiveness. 

Zuko had tried to let go, he really did.

But Azula...

It hurt more than his father forsaking him, it hurt more than being nearly killed in the field because of some nobleman, it hurt more than any time he could remember. 

That was the worst part of it. Not that fact that they had almost instantly arrested him and thrown him in jail cell, not the fact he had been caught in the first place. But that it was _Azula._ After months of working together, after having each others backs for _months_ , rebuilding their relationship into a semblance of a sibling relationship, Azula had betrayed him.

But surely, she couldn't have put up a front for this long, could she?

A part of him doesn't want to believe it. That there had to be another explanation for why she would do this, surely? Despite the evidence, despite the fact she had exposed him to the Earth King, despite it all. That niggling, hopeful part of him begs that it was a front, somehow. Because it was _Azula_.

Azula who had managed to convince a man to invest into one of the worst industries in the Fire Nation in a single night. Azula, who had lied with every word she said for more than half of her life. Azula, who was his little sister, and who couldn't be gone, couldn't be a traitor. She had shown him her _dragon_ , her soul's connection. That had to of meant something.

If not that, then Dai Li did something to her, to turn her against him. There was no other explanation that did not come with the physical pain of betrayal.

Haunted by his thoughts, Zuko sits and simply waits. The cell they had thrown him into is edged with green crystal, with that same lingering condensation that clung to the halls of the Dai Li headquarters. It wasn't all too spacious, enough so he could move about a little, but it was a cell nonetheless, accented with single, wrought iron door and nothing else. 

Zuko had already inspected the corners of the small space for a single crack or loose piece of earth that he could use to firebend his way out. It had been a good twenty minutes of running his hands along the walls to no avail that Zuko had then taken to pounding at the iron cell door. After ten minutes of that, when his hands had become red and voice raw from yelling to no answer, Zuko had given up.

Meditating doesn't help, and neither does practising Katas- without fire for obvious reasons. And so he sits, and he _waits_.

Doing utterly nothing is the most frustrating part of it all. So used to simply charging into a situation, or the endless work in the palace, suddenly being isolated is more than a little jarring. The pervasive hurt and anger in his chest doesn't help things in the slightest. As a physical weight, it lingers in the corners of his mind at all times. 

If Azula wasn't traitor, if she wasn't under whatever the Dai Li could of done to her, she would come to him, right? It's what he's banking his own sanity on.

Because if not, he would be stuck in this cell for the rest of his life.

Time inside of the jail cell distorts. Without Agni's light, he had no clue of the days passing. His inner flame stayed dim and calling and he knew in time it would begin to ache deep in his sea of Chi, in his soul. The sinking feeling in his chest only multiplies over time, eating and eating until Zuko wanted to rip his own heart out. Never before had this sort of dread, this terror for his sister, for Mai and Ty Lee wherever they were, taken a hold over him. 

His patience had already worn thin. The food the jail-keepers slip him is thrown into their faces. He pounds at the iron door until his hands bleed. He kicks and digs at the stone, at the earth and crystal in a bid to escape. None of it matters, but he does it anyway. 

And each time he falls asleep, he doesn't wake to a place that isn't this limbo of a nightmare.

Already, deep down in a dark corner of his mind that he doesn't yet want to acknowledge, Zuko accepts that Azula isn't coming for him. That she's gone, probably already on her way to win the war and come crawling back to their father's side. It disgusts him slightly to think of it, to even image that it will happen, but each day (hour?) that goes by, the fantasy becomes ever clearer. 

Agni, how stupid had he been? To not see this coming? To see that Azula was simply playing him, as she plays everyone, everywhere. The thought feels dirty, but what else can he think? 

Azula had betrayed him, and now he would sit and rot and rue the fact that he would never really know if she even did.

* * *

Days later, or weeks even, he's not quite sure, the echoed sound of voices meets his ears. From Zuko's crossed legged position, he can see shadows under the cell door. It's the first time something has happened, something that wasn't his food pushed through a slat, in what felt like days.

Fear wells up in him, where he thought excitement would at the prospect of someone or something - he wouldn't put it past the Dai Li to torture him. He had seen what they did to those women, what was to stop them from doing the same to him?

The jangle of jail keys is distinctive as it rattles into the lock, heralding the door opening. It does so with a blinding light, forcing his eyes to squint, before it slams shut to darkness once more.

When his eyes adjust, the figure of Azula stands before him, clad in an intricate looking Earth Kingdom uniform. The relief of having her safe is palpable, and briefly Zuko feels his anxiety ease. 

Then his rage bubbles up, along with a haunting paranoia that had built ever since he had seen her beside the King. Zuko leaps to his feet, widens his stance and glares. To his surprise, Azula flinches away.

They stand as far apart as the cell will let them, both tensed. The air is thick with an uncomfortable hostility. Underneath his anger, Zuko feels like he wants to cry - she'd never looked as vulnerable as she did right now, half cowed and gaunt. It simply looked wrong on Azula, as if the emotion, the body language, was simply never meant for her to emulate.

Her words, entirely ignorant of the anxious fear surrounding her, are as biting as ever. "What the fuck were you _thinking_ Zuko? They would of _killed_ you."

Gritting his teeth, Zuko fights the urge to hug her. They had made a mistake, both of them, he wouldn't make one now. He'd had the days in here to reflect on that. "How do I know that it's you."

"What?"

"You could be under some crazy hypnosis. I saw the Dai Li, with those women. How do I know you're not one of them."

"That's-" Zuko stays firm, "How can I possibly convince you?"

"Tell me something- something that only you would know."

The understanding that dawns behind her eyes is somewhat of a relief. It's funny to see the quirk of her mouth, however slight it was, and to know that Azula was probably proud of his paranoia. 

Azula pauses, then takes a deep breath, pointedly glancing behind her to the iron door. It takes a beat before Zuko understands. He shuffles closer, until she can hear her words in a whisper. "I am Azula Sozin, Princess General of the Fire Nation. I have a blue dragon, one of the last in existence, named Rul. I took you to see Rul in the old hot springs in Caldera city. You asked if he would eat you."

" _Azula_..." Zuko breathes. The rush of relief makes him dizzy.

He lets his fists drop. He lets himself sag under the weight of the days spent in here. He lets himself just fucking breathe, as if the sheer fear he had been carrying had been choking him all this time. Eyes hot and hands shaking, he takes a second to just stare at Azula. At her unfamiliar hairstyle, at the bags that were black and bruised around her eyes, at the way she looks at him with a separate fear of her own.

At his sister.

Then, feeling as if time had slowed around them, he reaches forward with shaking hands and pulls her into a desperate hug. Azula clutches back just as tight.

"I'm sorry." She murmurs into his shoulder. The way she gripped his back almost hurt, in a way that he's oddly grateful for. "I'm sorry you're in here... I-I didn't have a choice."

It's at once a grounding thing, to feel Azula hug him, to feel her hands dig into his back. To know that she had once again proved him wrong, like she always gleefully did at home. To know she was safe, and here, and not a stranger. To hear an apology fall from her lips that was not coerced or hounded for. That she apologised because she wanted to, needed to.

How far they had come, he thinks.

"I'm sorry too." Zuko feels more than hears his voice choked with tears. And yet he still doesn't let go of Azula. 

"Why are _you_ sorry? I'm the one that got you thrown into prison."

"I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I'm sorry I didn't help you." Heat trails down his face, onto Azula's shoulder. The loathing he had been holding since Azula first was captured tumbles out his mouth before Zuko can stop it. "I'm sorr-"

"Shut up Zuzu." She yanks them both back, so that she's clutching his shoulders with a wet, entirely unconvincing scowl. "You sound stupid. There's nothing to be sorry for."

"But-"

"It's... it's the past. And I need you right now. I need Zuko, my brother."

Zuko lets out a shaky breath that sounds far too loud in the silence of the cell. The hands on his shoulders tighten a fraction. 

"For what? Azula I've been rotting in this fucking cell for weeks, I can't do anything."

" _A_ week, Zuko." He'd only been down here for a _week_ , and he already felt like he was on the brink. "And I need you to listen. The guard rotation, I've managed to change it up this week. You'll have a selection of loud mouths down here. I want you to listen to them and tell me everything they say."

"Azula, no. Get me out of this cell. I can't-" He pulls away completely to gesture at the blackened walls of his cell, "I'm not staying in here any longer. It's driving me crazy."

The concept of having to stay any longer in the unchanging hell of this prison cell evokes an undeserving yet entirely violent roil of emotion. Even if the guilt and anger of the past week would no longer hang above him like a looming axe, Zuko couldn't just sit and do nothing. Azula needed him up there with her, to help. 

Sitting in the ground was worse than doing nothing.

"That's not my decision to make."

Zuko grits his teeth. The sentence was so hypocritical it's infuriating. "Oh, so it wasn't you who threw me in here in the first place? It wasn't you stood at the King's side?! It wasn't you who-"

"It's not that _easy_ Zuko." Azula reaches up to smooth her hair, in what Zuko finally recognises is an emotion driven tick. "Agni- you of all people should know that."

"Why isn't it? You're not the one stuck in this forsaken pit."

"I-" Azula stops herself with an almost audible click of her jaw. There's a frustrated edge to the way she's wound, mouth set tight to pale skin. "Zuko, listen, I am sorry you were put in here. But I did what I did for three reasons." She raises her hand before he can interrupt her again. "One, because they would of killed you if I hadn't. Two, because I need evidence of the war to show the King. And three, because I'm still going through with our plan."

"Still-? Wait, how did you even get out?"

"That pathetic leech Long Feng and I came to an agreement. I intend to throw that into his face."

Pride wells up where he thought annoyance would, dampening down his increasing frustration. Because of course Azula managed to spin her own capture to their advantage, it was _Azula_.

But with it came odd implications. The King didn't know about the war. 

"So... what's your plan then? What deal did you make?"

"He thinks I'm not a threat, but he knows I'm from the Fire Nation, as a 'spy'. The deception won't last for long once I start making moves against him, but I've been using it to stay mostly undetected." She almost looks excited as she grips his shoulders. "The key is the Dai Li Zuko. They're the real ones in charge, exactly like we thought. If I can get them to betray Long Feng for just a little while, we'll have our siege."

Zuko raises an eyebrow at her. "So why do you want me listening to people?"

"I need to know about any unrest in the Dai Li before I make my move. I can't just _ask_ them Zuzu, they keep their own weaknesses well hidden."

"Then why not get me into the palace guards instead?"

"That's..." Azula blinks at him. "Not a bad idea, actually." Zuko smiles at her, watching as she mentally maps out a plan. In all honesty he'd do just about anything to get out of the prison cell. "I'll find you a uniform and buy off a few guards. It shouldn't be hard, they assume you're rotting in here for all time." Her brow then knots a little. "You do realise it's more danger to yourself, right?" 

"Where's the fun in safety?" Azula fixes him with an exasperated look. He needed the excitement of near death to wake him from the hellish monotony of the past week. "How long do you think I'll be with them?"

"A couple of weeks, give or take." Azula shrugs. Something flickers across her face as she looks at him again. "What happened to Mai and Ty Lee? I haven't heard from them at all."

"I sent them to Ka's."

There's the beginnings of a frown pulling at her face, with the way her face tightens. "Who?" 

"You know, the woman we met on the freight."

"You-" The glare that's thrown his way his frightening, "You sent Ty Lee to a woman who you've known for the space of an _entire conversation_?" 

" _And_ Mai." Zuko winces, it didn't look like it helped - Azula was near murderous with her expression. "They'll be okay, Lala. They can handle themselves." 

"I-" With what he assumes is great control, blue flame does not lick at her hands. Zuko rubs at the back of his head. To his credit, he was in a life or death situation, and it just so happened that Ka's name was the first that popped into his head. "Right. I'll find her- _them_ ," Azula coughs, "-and get _them_ employed here. Agni- what were you thinking?"

Annoyance bubbles low in his gut. "The Dai Li were about to gag me, what was I supposed to do?" It wasn't like _Azula_ was doing much back there.

"Not send them to a _stranger?"_

Zuko scowls at her, who simply scowls back. Their match is interrupted by a dull thud on the door behind them, and a rough voice bleeding through into the cell. In an instant, Azula stiffens, her usual aloof expression slipping back onto her face with a scary amount of ease.

"Right. I'll be back tomorrow. Be ready."

"Got it," Azula moves to leave, and on a whim Zuko flails out his hand to keep her from moving, "Are- are _you_ okay? Did.. did anything happen Azula?"

Did they hurt you, he means, when you were captured and gone for so long, but somehow those exact words catch in his throat. Zuko doesn't quite know if he wants to hear the answer. He can see the hesitation in her step, the way her fists tighten. The sinking, guilty feeling in his chest grows at the lingering silence left by his question. It was as good a sign as any. 

Then she sighs, shakily and through her teeth. "If you think I'm doing the wrong thing, if I'm... if I'm taking the wrong path, stop me won't you?"

"Azula?"

"Just promise me, okay?" She half turns, face vulnerable.

Something painful and raw jolts in his chest at the emotion sat behind her eyes. Guilt clasps it's hands around his throat.

"I promise." He chokes. 

* * *

There was a saying Ozai had once told to her, long ago.

It had been on her ninth birthday, back when she had actually celebrated those sorts of things, mostly at the instance of Ursa. Ozai always seemed to rue the days he had to dedicate to his children. Azula had always striven to be different, to be wanted by him - she was his prodigy after all, the golden child of the Sozin bloodline - and so she had emulated that hatred. Why should she care for birthdays when her father clearly didn't? 

It had been a moment in that day that she remembers vividly. They had been in the gardens, near the ponds. Her only two friends, the only ones she wanted there, Mai and Ty Lee, had been playing with Zuko. Some childish game that nine-year-old Azula was far too mature for. Instead she had sat with Lu Ten and Ozai, an odd pairing, but what was she to know at the time? He had yet to be crippled, so Ozai had regarded him only with the subtlest of hatred.

Back straight, as her father would bid, Azula had watched her friends play with some hurting in her chest. But she was nine, she was above that, Azula was her fathers prodigy- and if he bid her not to play on her birthday, she would not play. Ursa was somewhere else at the time, not that she cared.

It was when a servant had come over, with a gentle smile just for Azula and a type of tropical juice on a gleaming platter - Azula can't remember what it was now, only that it was her favourite at the time - that Ozai had grasped her wrist tight before she could take it.

He had manacled it back from the woman with a tight frown. The servant had left with a face of stone, smile gone. The juice had remained untouched.

"The walls have ears, Azula, you cannot trust anything inside of the palace. Remember this." He had said, his hand tightening to bruise. Azula had thought it the wisest thing to ever be uttered.

And she had. It was a mantra, along with the many others Ozai had given her, that Azula had repeated each night and each morning until it truly felt as if she could not trust anyone. Until the walls really had ears, and anything she said that was not lies, that was the _truth_ , had already been used against her. It was maddening, but she had been perfect with his teachings.

Reflecting back, Azula understands now it was simply her father being cruel. The birthday of a nine year old had taken him from his work, and so he had lashed out at his own daughter. Azula didn't enjoy her ninth birthday, and hadn't celebrated one since. Another thing he had stolen from her, the free will to enjoy her own life.

But the message had still remained. It was, despite the framing, valuable advice. Advice she used now, walking the walls of the Earth Kingdom palace with a smuggled guard uniform and forged papers in a bag, headed for Zuko down in the prison complex. 

In the palace, the Dai Li watched your every move. The walls truly did have ears, ones that analysed Azula for any slip in her facade. The so called 'Niya' who played at being a scared girl, hoping to earn honour and favour for her nation, was most certainly a lie. She had a feeling that Long Feng knew that, the distinctive golden eyes of a Sozin would of been a dead give away, not mentioning her new, as yet silent agenda of exposing Long Feng's lie to the monarchy. 

But his window for killing her had long since come to a close - now that she was firmly by his King's side. And so the walls had ears, in case she slipped up in this game of masks and secrets.

But Azula hadn't slipped since she was twelve, and she would not slip now. 

The journey to the guard captain she had paid off is a short one from her quarters, despite the eyes she feels to her back. They enter his room under the guise of simple small talk, the goods then exchanged quickly - along with an exuberant sum of money - before Azula is on her way once again. 

Walking back to her rooms, the only safe haven in the den she had found herself in, is one now easily tread, and Azula's slipping inside in mere minutes. The moment she does, the hard line of her back bows, and she moves to crumple into one of the chairs. 

Her head thumps back against the fine wood as she sorts through her head.

The week she'd had here reminded her of court life, a life she had been unattached to for years now - playing with a mask that was so permanent it had eventually become who she was. Both aloof and snide, the two lives she had been forced to live had eventually merged into one, and her friends became pawns, and her pawns became the dirt on her boots. A part of herself feels disgusted at having to play the insidious game once more - even if she wasn't truly hurting the people she loved. 

She was using Zuko for her plans, what's to stop her going further? _Would_ anyone stop her? How would she know what's right, at the very end?

It was an infinitely frustrating riddle that only she could really solve.

Waking up each day and having to try to untangle it was exhausting by itself. When she were with the Warriors, it had been objectively easier - not that she had personally accounted for that, moreover it was the environment. A hostile palace with high stress situations didn't feel like, at least to Azula, an appropriate place of self discovery.

On top of that, truly being _good_ , unlearning everything she had been raised on since she was merely a bright-eyed unscarred _six year old_ , felt nearly impossible. At times like these, lulls in her common sense and mental fortitude, she wished Iroh were here with them both, his guidance and reassurance had become as valuable as gold in the recent years. 

Azula then gets a grip of lacking mental will, and reminds herself that she did truly hate the notion of co-dependence. It wasn't like the man was her actual father.

No, her actual father was working against her to further a century long war for his own ego. At the reminder, Azula huffs derisively into the quite night air.

Agni knew theirs was not an easy family. 

Hauling herself upward, Azula begins to kick off her boots toward the bed. Her plan currently was to collapse into it and attempt at fitful sleep for a few hours. Sleep _was_ distraction, but her body had physically been flagging recently. If her mind slipped, her sharpest weapon in the palace, their plan would be for naught.

Though, as she settles into the overbearingly, yet surprisingly familiar, bed, a piece feels missing. Like an unstratchable itch, the lull of sleep evades her.

It did not help that she had gotten used to Ty Lee by her side at night. 

The infuriating woman had tricked her mind into thinking it needed her at night. It was frustrating, and confusing, and Azula simply didn't get it.

What made Ty Lee so different?

She turns to face the wall, glaring at the cream colour, as if it had the answers that so eluded her. Azula finds herself tired of the layering emotions of the day, the uncertainty surrounding everything. She wanted answers and yet had no way to get them. It seemed only sleep held a reprieve from her endless questions. 

Thoughts of grey eyes and bright smiles follows her into unconsciousness. 

* * *

Finding Mai and Ty Lee proves to be more difficult than first expected. There were a lot of 'Ka's in Ba Sing Se. But eventually, after running down several leads in the space of a single day with mounting frustration, she finally finds them. After taking an early leave from the vaguely obnoxious, and thoroughly staged court meetings that the earth King bid her attend, Azula slips out of the palace in order to find the pair.

According to what information she could get, they had hidden out in some dive bar in the middle ring, by the name of the 'Blubberin' Plati-Bear'. It was inordinately odd that they would use a bar of all places, but Azula can't find it in herself to judge. 

After the week she had had? It would be a relief to see them alive and breathing.

Close to midnight, Azula slips into the place. Just in case, she had pulled on a dark cloak and ambiguous clothing.

The establishment was fairly busy considering the hour. Modestly sized, the front of the place comfortably held a wooden bar, with seats bracketing the sides of the walls, and tables scattered in the middle. As soon as she enters, several of the patrons wheel around to stare at her. 

She ignores them all and approaches the woman at the bar. Vaguely, she recognises the woman with the scar to be Ka. 

"Hello. You there." She places her hand atop the bar and begins to wrap her nails along it's lacquered edge. The woman in question raises an eyebrow at Azula. "Ka, is it? I believe you have a couple of my friends stashed away here."

A look of recognition dawns on Ka's face. "You- you're Niya? From the freight right?"

"Yes. Well? Do you have my friends or not? If you can't tell, I'm in a bit of a hurry." Ka doesn't rise to her harsh words, simply beckoning her with one hand. 

Even knowing it could be a trap, or a mistake, Azula follows her. If she was able to see Ty Lee alive and well, it wouldn't really matter if she got stabbed. The prospect that she could be hurt had haunted her more throughout the past days than she had expected. It was a stupid thought - of course - because Ty Lee was possibly one of the most capable fighters Azula had ever witnessed. But that fact hadn't stopped her mind from lingering.

She had just gotten Ty Lee back. The Spirits couldn't take her away now.

Ka leads her upstairs into a second room. It's a short walk, but somehow the anticipation grows into something wild in Azula's chest. When they crest to the top, Ka simply gives her a wink and returns downstairs, leaving Azula in front of the door. Her hand curls around the handle with a measure of trepidation. If Ty Lee was hurt... she would never forgive herself. A selfish part of her doesn't want to know if she is hurt, to save herself of the guilt.

But the door is pushed open anyway, to a modest room and two figures sat inside it. Something lurches in her stomach as Ty Lee turns, her smaller frame coming into view - an odd mix of elation, nerves, and something else thrown into the mix. 

When Ty Lee sees her, the woman says nothing. Her face however tells a story of emotion, through shock, awe, relief and then something beautiful, edged in tears. Azula braces herself for the inevitable as Ty Lee launches herself at Azula, arms coming to lock about her broad frame. For a second, Azula stiffens. Then grips her back just as hard, letting Ty Lee tuck her face in her neck. 

They sway, the warmth in her chest more like a blaze. 

"Thank Agni you're okay." Azula murmurs into the Ty Lee's temple. 

She can feel Ty Lee's smile pressed into her neck. It makes her shiver a little. The headiness of having Ty Lee safe seemingly enhances everything around her, though all of her attention is solely on the woman in her arms. 

"I missed you too 'Zula. I was so worried." Ty Lee presses her face just a little harder into Azula, arms tightening just a bit more. " _Never_ do that again."

"I promise." 

Ty Lee pulls back from their embrace to beam up at Azula. The flush that she had worked so hard to repress erupts onto her face. Azula briefly curses having blood in her body that allowed such a reaction. 

"Is this the first time you've hugged me back?" Of course Ty Lee has to tease her. She would be more shocked if she didn't, really. 

Much to her visible dismay, Azula yanks back to promptly cross her arms. "Don't get used to it. This was a one time deal." Pointedly, she ignores the acute feeling of loss that follows the action. 

"'Zula-!" The tone of her voice is edged with fondness.

Having to repress her grin is far harder than Azula expects. They approach Mai, Ty Lee sitting with her, close enough to brush shoulders. The wild feeling in her chest is yet to leave, yet Azula finds herself... comfortable with it, in a way. Freeing, almost.

She doesn't let herself linger on those thoughts for too long. It seemed dangerous. "How did you two get out then? Zuzu told me the basics of course, but you know how he is."

"Oh we got Rul to take us to you!"

"Wh-" The mere mention of Rul sends a line of sensation down her hands. She missed the great hulking lizard, her heart tugging each day to his location as it did so often when they were separated. But undercutting that sensation is one of fear. _How did they know?_ More importantly, how did they _find_ him?

" _What?"_ Azula says, rather stupidly.

Ty Lee is beaming at her, leaning in so far she practically in her lap at this point. "Yeah! He's very pretty. And polite! Such a gentleman allowing us on his back and all." At the mental image of Ty Lee on Rul's back, _flying with him_ , Azula briefly wonders if this was a rather convoluted dream. "Your auras are connected, did you know?"

"I... did not. How did you- where even..." For someone who prided herself on her cutting tongue, Azula sounded like a deranged idiot. 

Thankfully Mai shows her mercy, interrupting Ty Lee before she begins to speak again. "Zuko led us to him. We didn't know what else to do." Mai shrugs. "Wanna explain the whole dragon thing?"

As always, Azula counts herself blessed at Mai's almost no nonsense attitude. It certainly balanced their dynamic in a way that didn't slowly kill Azula. There was really only so much she could take in a single day - and it wasn't as if she was anywhere near versed on casual interactions. Azula was big enough to admit that. Not out loud. 

She takes a deep, calming breath and allows her thoughts to order themselves. There was a level of trust required when it came to Rul. He was something that was so intrinsic to her own heart - revealing him was revealing a delicate part of herself she mostly kept hidden. The more she considers it though, the more she realises that she _does_ trust them.

Mai and Ty Lee were people she considered her friends again, after years of uncertainty. The thought sends a pleasant buzz to her head. And besides, it would be easier wouldn't it? Ty Lee was almost too curious for her own good, and they had already seen him in the flesh.

"Both of us are part of a prophecy, one that was spoken to bring dragons back to the world. It's a vague thing, obviously, but I was chosen to fulfil it all the same." She lets the words sink in briefly. "You say that Zuko took you to him?" Her eye twitches. "Of course he did."

Mai snorts a little. "Don't be mad at him. We kinda harassed him into taking us."

"No promises," She tuts, "How weak willed of my brother. It's a wonder we are related."

"To his credit," Mai drawls, just a hint of humour in her otherwise monotone voice, "he did say to think like you."

"Did he now?" There's teasing material here and she just knows it.

Ty Lee's hand wrapping around her shoulder lift them out of their smirking exchange. Azula shifts to look at the woman with a raised eyebrow. "A prophecy? What prophecy?"

"The exact words are: _When the Storm That Breathes Life of Blue is Forsaken in the Age of War, Forgiveness Shall Bring About the Rebirth of the First Flames_." She recites with practised ease. It was a sentence she'd read over and over when she was recovering with the Sun Warriors, drilling it into her brain as she had done with Ozai's lessons. It was a funny thing, how ultimately it was those scant words that had saved her life. 

After the betrayal that had left her for dead, a Sun Warrior had found her - at what she assumed was Iroh's insistence. Their training and protection had only been given because of the prophecy's words. Not at all from no less than three arrogant, spiting reprisals from Azula. The entire affair was rocky and awkward for the first year until she really settled on the island - but it was the words that had let her in, and saved her.

It lingered now, but it's grand meaning had eventually becoming a naught thing. Azula wasn't even sure if she believed it.

Mai hums. There's a steaming cup in front of her that she grasps for. "And that means...?"

"In short, a firebender with blue flames and lightening will restore dragons to the world. Part of the prophecy states about a dragon being bestowed upon the storm. Which is how I was given Rul. I suppose that explains the... _connection_ that Ty Lee can see."

"Wow 'Zula, that's incredible! A prophecy about you-" Azula tries to argue that it could simply be a coincidence of language, but Ty Lee just shushes her. "If anyone was important enough to be part of prophecy it would be you 'Zula. Besides, auras are always right!" 

Why she never got used to Ty Lee's compliments was beyond her, but Azula smiles a little anyway.

"Thank you." When Ty Lee says nothing, merely gazing at Azula with an expression she doesn't want to try and decipher, Azula huffs. Her blush, it also seemed, was yet to leave. She clears her throat. "If the both of you are comfortable with it, I'll have you employed at the palace."

"You're in the palace?" Mai blinks.

With a quiet sigh, Azula briefly runs through the details of her deal with Long Feng, the current dance they played - leaving out the unsavoury details - and the plots for the future. 

When they both agree, far too quickly and willingly if Azula were being honest, she moves to leave. 

There was still much to do.

* * *

The King was a seeming paradox to Azula. For one, him and his stupid bear were both bumbling idiots.

At first she attributed it to his sheltered, extremely isolated life in the palace - a backstory she had figured out for herself, considering the man had not a single clue about his own kingdom. But it went beyond his childish mannerisms, in a way she hadn't really anticipated. 

Earth King Kuei was both far too susceptible to manipulation, and also extremely aware of it. Which, when Azula first encountered it, truly threw her for a loop. It was an odd combination, how he could so easily shut down simple, to fairly common tactics that others would use, but was also far too ignorant when it came to other particularly unsavoury methods. 

After a week of so in court, Azula learns the man's weaknesses; the way he ticks. Playing into the demure girl facade works wonders, as does playing into an advisory role. Both things she learns from Long Feng himself, where she then figures out _why_ he worked the way he did.

A lifetime of subjugation from the hands of his Grand Secretariat has left Kuei with an odd complex in it's wake. Azula supposes she should of seen it coming, considering both their positions and the age of each of them. It was a curious thing, but Azula doesn't care too much for the curious. 

Once his ticks are learnt and quickly memorised, Azula mentally moves to their next objective. That being the coup of the generals. 

That niggling, whispering part of her brain - the one that sometimes sounded like Ozai - tells her that an absolute coup would be easier. Decisive strikes were generally more her style, both in military matters and politics, and from her observations Azula figures it would not be hard. The only thing that stood in her way was the presence of a pesky consciousness. One that had already promised to Zuko to do the right thing. One that Iroh trusted wholeheartedly, and one that Azula had been trying to cultivate for the better half of four years.

It would be easy, yes, but it would also be a betrayal of who she was trying to become.

Frustrating and tiring in equal measure, in the wake of her mind fighting against itself yet again, a plan forms. 

Long Feng was powerful, but only with the backing of the Dai Li. Without them, he was simply a man who was good at talking, and who was ambitious far beyond his station. Their games were to come to a close, and Azula would, as always, stand victorious. 

Gaining the Dai Li's backing is far easier with all four of them operating in the palace. With less convincing than should strictly be required, and with a slight jolt of guilt on her end, Azula has Mai and Ty Lee shadow a few Dai Li. Their organisation was tight, but not absolute, and a single loudmouth was all she really needed. On top of that, Zuko begins to feed her regular reports concerning the guards and any other gossip that trickled into the palace. 

In the meantime, she begins to plant the seeds of the war. 

It's a delicate process, treading a fine line between obvious betrayal against Long Feng, keeping Kuei's attention and belief, whilst also keeping the facade of demure, shy, clueless girl. If she were being honest, it had been years since she'd enjoyed a challenge like this - however much it was a backburner for the main event. 

After near five days of this, Ty Lee finally comes to her with exactly what she needs. A stir of whisperings in the Dai Li, of their building distrust over Long Feng. The man had, according to Ty Lee's excited whispers, become more willing to use the Dai Li in reckless ways in order to get more information over her and her plans. It was foolish, and stupid, and with it endangering the Dai Li as an organisation, the head of the order had apparently begun to shift his sights away. 

Azula feels a sudden, overwhelming and entirely confusing urge to kiss Ty Lee for this information.

With this, she could make a move to win over the Dai Li. With this, she would be scant steps away from victory.

* * *

The guard quarters weren't exactly what Zuko was expecting, given the circumstance. He currently lived in a bunk bed, in a room of four, surrounded by three men, who for all intents and purposes, were out to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Zuko was expecting, at the very least, a room of his own. Though, he didn't exactly know what to expect from the beginning - he'd never been in a guard quarters. Given, it was marginally better than the jail cell he'd been confined to last week, but not by much.

Guard duty was both boring and nerve wracking. He wasn't as good as Azula when it came to lying, or good at all, and so every conversation that inevitably carried to him was met with his grunts and general dismissal. The more tenacious, talkative of the guards roped him into fiercely awkward small talk during the day, given that Zuko had not a single clue about current events, life as a guard, or anything surrounding the Earth Kingdoms apart from what he picked up at the teashop. 

But he powers through it all anyway. For Azula, for Mai's now-regular visits once she had been employed, and for his own skin. His roommates, despite being far too friendly, were also blessedly loose lipped. It meant all he had to do was feign sleep each night and listen to them ramble about this or that until they all passed out. 

Most of it was nonsense, but some things caught his attention that he relayed back to Azula.

It was nice that the rhythm of his life had shifted back to what he was most comfortable with - that being a strict timetable and objectives at all times.

Though, when Azula shows up one night with a piece of paper clutched in one hand and a dangerous glint in her eyes, Zuko figures that rhythm is once again going to be disrupted. 

When he stumbles out of the room half dressed at the rushed insistence of Azula, she grabs his wrist and drags him into an empty hallway. He's a little annoyed having to clutch his bedsheet around his bare shoulders like a cape, but Azula just rolls her eyes when he complains about it. Once sheltered in an alcove, beside a grand window that streamed the moons silver light around them, Azula finally lets go off his wrist to face him fully. 

"I need you to do something for me."

"Did you need to wake me up to tell me?" He grunts at her. Azula rolls her eyes at him and shoves the paper under his nose.

"The coup is going to be staged in two days time. I need you to eliminate this man." Zuko feels his eyes widen at her blasé, utterly unaffected voice. A voice that carried along the corridor. A voice that anyone could hear, and listen to, and report to Long Feng.

Despite the intense need to demand answers, Zuko assumes that Azula had a reason for being quite so obvious - the hallway, the lack of sneaking, the very suspicious looking parchment. If he knew anything, it was that Azula had never and would never be this sloppy. When he shoots her a questioning, and vaguely alarmed look, Azula simply gestures to the paper beneath his face. He cautiously reaches out to grasp it.

Painted beautifully onto the parchment was a man's profile, handsome, somewhere in his fifties with a long ponytail and impressive looking eyebrows, and under that a name scored in perfect script - General Hishen. Below that was an exact time, date and location. Then, right at the very bottom in a very familiar handwriting were the words ' _The Dai Li need to know. Be loud and be obvious_.' 

A smile tugs at his mouth. Of course. 

"General Hishen? Only one General then? I had thought we were going to take them all out." It's a little hard to not be theatrical about the whole thing, but he manages to temper is voice from lilting too much. 

As always, Azula is an impeccable actress. "Come now, that would be far too obvious. If we want to leave Ba Sing Se open for attack we need to make sure we aren't discovered before our army arrives. No, I'm suggesting _two_ Generals. You take out Hishen and I will deal with General Peno. Deal?"

So that was her angle. He had to admit, it was smart. Baiting out the Dai Li was akin to walking a tight rope, but Azula always moved when she knew it was to kill. He had utter faith in her. Zuko nods, tightening his hand around the parchment. "Right. What about Long Feng?"

Actress she was, but Zuko could see the tightening around her eyes, subtle but angry. Whatever game she had been playing with the man was obviously infuriating her to no end. "Let me deal with him. Once the drill is in place, he won't be able to hide behind his lie anymore. His little empire will crumble with the outer wall." He's a little surprised she hasn't outright killed him already, but holds his tongue. 

"Right. I'll strike at midnight."

"Excellent. Glory to the Firelord."

Zuko nearly snorts. The phrase was so ridiculous in the context of their mission, and he just knows she's doing it on purpose. Looking at her, Azula's face can only be described as self satisfied and _smarmy_. "Glory to the Firelord."

* * *

The Spirits see fit to make the night cloudy, much to his advantage. Zuko travels over the Palace walls in somehow familiar actions. The walls were hulking, shadowed things, usually accented by as of now suspiciously absent lanterns. It was far too easy to slip in between a dark corner, the familiar weight of his dragon mask and dark garb grounding him.

Sat in his chest was a flicker of anticipation for the hour to come, alongside a heavy dose of excitement. The night of the coup was among them. 

Vaulting across the upper ring's gaudy roofed houses, sneaking through their perfectly manicured gardens and widen streets, Zuko makes his way toward General Hishen's favourite bar. It was gaudily named 'The Royal Unagi', According to Azula, the man would conveniently be there tonight; some she had no doubt managed to arrange. Across the other side of the ring, far away from the scene he was about to create, Dai Li moved in on another General - Peno. 

Now, as he settles onto a roof adjacent to the bar, knife in hand and glinting with the street lights, he wonders. 

When Azula had slipped the knife into his hand just scant hours ago, Zuko hadn't even considered that Azula could be playing him. Under a year ago and that would of been his immediate assumption. Wasn't it now odd that he completely okay with this? Whilst it was true they had been together for a while now, the situation had never been quite as serious as this. It could all change, Azula's actions could all change in these next forty-eight hours. 

Not to mention the fact that a niggling part of his brain told him she was playing him, that the Dai Li _had_ done something. It's a part he stoutly ignores, as he does with the rest of that chain of thought.

It didn't really matter now he had the knife in his hands.

A breeze plays with the street signs just as Hishen emerges from the bar, a trail of smoke drifting out of the open door. Zuko watches with narrowed eyes as he stumbles into an alley just adjacent to the building. When he's satisfied that the man's back is completely turned, and body completely shadowed from the lights in the main road, Zuko leaps forward and into the side street. 

Hishen's body was an awkward shadow in the gloom - yet to notice Zuko's light feet. He doesn't allow him a chance to. 

Dancing forward to grasp his neck, Zuko draws the knife in a line across his throat. Blood pours out from his slit throat, covering his hand in warm, sticky red. The man chokes, grasping at his hands as he falls. The weight of his body catches up to him, and he slips from Zuko's grasp. 

To Azula's specific instruction, Zuko leaves the knife at the scene, ensures his shoes were not tracked with blood, and hauls himself into the night. The way back is as easily tread as it is when he was travelling to the bar. 

An odd sense of ease settles in his chest that feels so foreign, given what he had just done. It's not lost on him that Azula had asked him to murder someone and he had simply done it, without question or judgement. 

In that moment he realises.

He'd _forgiven_ in her. 

Somewhere, at some point during their near half a year spent at each others sides, something had changed. A shift in their dynamic he hadn't even noticed, that Azula herself probably didn't notice either. Zuko _trusted_ Azula. That faith he carries inexplicably in Azula, in her plans and in her potential to do good, wasn't unfounded and naive, but Zuko knows now had been earnt: through her worrying about doing the right thing. Through willingly sacrificing herself for him. Through all the times she had tried, in her own Azula way, to help them all - even if it hindered her. 

She was better, and was trying, and had changed just like she had promised she had, all those months ago under the Fire Nation's stars.

After years and years of Azula being someone he never knew, not really, not in the ways that mattered, after all the times she'd betrayed him, mocked him, sabotaged him for the sake of their father, after all of that, the years of anger and resentment that had built between them, Zuko realises now that all that's left of those emotions is sadness. 

Sadness that they had been forced into the toxic, hateful situation they were in. A sort of mourning of the people they could of been, if the world had been a little less cruel to them. In a way, as Zuko slips into the palace just as the night begins to lighten, he figures this to be a rebirth.

They still had their shackles of responsibility, of duty and fate that couldn't be escaped when his name was still Sozin and title still Prince, but it could be different this time around. Hope that had long been dormant ignites in his chest.

Together, they could _make_ it different.

* * *

Two Generals had been murder tonight, and Azula had chosen them with careful purpose.

The first was General Peno: the man had lead a failed defensive against Iroh's aggressive resurgence into the old colony lands, and being on the council for a little over five years, he was a prime target.

The second was General Hishen: according to Mai, he was generally disliked for his over passive tactics, and his far too public affair with a serving girl a few years prior.

In their places, Azula had secured two of Lu Ten's men. Both had worked for him for years in secret, operating throughout the Earth Kingdoms, but most noticeably, they had both been established in Ba Sing Se for years. Without too much trouble, they're able to forge a military career and high social standing. It wasn't perfect, but the King would hardly notice, and they just needed them in power for long enough to start the invasion.

When Azula had informed Zuko of her plans, loudly and obviously in a way the Dai Li simply couldn't ignore, she'd been delivered to their leader almost immediately after. The meeting that had ensued pulled everything Azula needed into place. The Dai Li were for her to use in the coup - and use she had. Whilst Zuko was set on Hishen, she'd directed the Dai Li to Peno. Once they had done her dirty work for her, a fact she's inordinately pleased at, they gather before her under Lake Laogai.

A place she had ironically been detained in mere weeks before.

She makes sure to make it known to the Dai Li of her approval in a speech she ensures is both intimidating and reverent. From the slight twitches to their faces, and the way they bow when she dismisses them, Azula knows she's won them over for good. 

The rest of night Azula spends planning, reworking her plans and going over any detail she missed. There's too much adrenaline running through her to sleep, and too much to do to even try. It had to be perfect, all of it, if she were to succeed. 

Long Feng will fall, and in his place she shall rise.

When the sun rises slow over Ba Sing Se, Azula dresses in her finest clothes, though regrettably still Earth Kingdom make, and briefly meets the leader of the Dai Li. As she strides toward the great hall, nodding to the man who gives her a reverent bow, a smile twitches at her lips - it had all come together so _beautifully._

The throne room is oddly dark as she enters. Azula is used to the blinding green lanterns illuminating the space, but only a few seem to be lit. It creates sinister shadows from the carved pillars as the light flickers in a way that's almost pathetic fallacy. Even more so for the sombre look atop the throne as Earth King Kuei emerges to hunch atop it. 

Clad in dark browns and blacks, he almost looked to be in mourning. Quietly, Azula takes her place by his side, Long Feng opposite.

"Your Grace," The head of the Dai Li bows to Kuei on his throne, "General Peno and General Hishen were murdered last night."

The silence that follows his words can only be described as deafening. Chancing a glance at Long Feng, Azula can see the way his face tightens. It's clear he didn't have a clue about this news. 

Which meant the Dai Li had kept it from him. She finds it strangely hard not to grin at their betrayal of the man.

Kuei's face is a painting of distress, moreso than she would expect from the King. Perhaps he simply wasn't used to death, as every other person in his court clearly was. Lost, he looks to Azula for a moment. When she nods at him, Kuei motions for the Dai Li to rise.

"How has this happened?"

Now it was time for the killing blows. If her subtle probing throughout the past days were successful, this would not be hard at all. Azula had utmost faith in her abilities. "I believe it was Fire Nation spies, correct?"

Before he can say anything, Long Feng scowls. "Impossible." Like a dancer, he skips into her ploy. Really, he wasn't at all proficient in this. The Fire Nation would of eaten him whole had he tried to play his games there. "What business would the Fire Nation have with our Generals?"

Azula pulls her features into a thoughtful scowl. "As I have said multiple times, the war is no fabrication. From what I can see, they wish to destabilise us from the inside." 

"Blind theories-" Kuei holds up a hand to silence Long Feng, who does so with a rigid nod.

"Is there evidence of these spies killing my Generals?" 

Now, it all hinged on the head of the Dai Li. A sense of almost blood-lust takes over as the dizzying sensation of winning fills her. She tightens her hand into a fist, digging her nails into her palm in order to quell the wild sensation building in her throat.

He nods, and brandishes the knife they'd planted. One still had blood on it, the one Zuko had used just hours ago to slit Hishen's throat. A weapon had never looked so beautiful to Azula as it did just now. "The royal guard found this on the body of Hishen. Of Fire Nation make." He tilts it to reveal a Fire Nation insignia. 

"It is undeniable then." Azula says, sounding not at all of the triumph she felt.

In some misguided attempt at seizing control, Long Feng throws his hand out to point at him. "This proves very little, how can we know that-"

"There is _war_ , Grand Secretariat." Azula snaps. "All I need to do is point outside out great walls. How can you deny the existence of a Fire Nation army when it is right outside our city? When it's spies murder our Generals? Are you truly so foolish?"

"An army?" Kuei bodily turns to her. The way his hands grip to whiteknuckle at his own throne is telling all in itself. 

Azula nods. "I received reports just this morning. Black smoke is approaching, and a Fire Nation army with it."

And so she takes him to the outer walls, to witness Lu Ten heading their armies toward them in the body of a great drill. She had never been so pleased to see the black smoke of the Fire Nation armies until now.

When Kuei is standing, staring enraptured at the slow march toward his city, Azula plants the final seed.

"Your Grace, I think..." Her voice takes on a stage whisper of fright. "I think Long Feng has been lying to you. How could we not know about the war?"

It's most satisfying when Kuei doesn't argue and simply turns on Long Feng in blind rage and sadness. For the first time since her capture, Azula allows herself to properly smirk at the scheming leech as the man is dragged away by the Dai Li to the prison cells. They'd played their little game, but she had won.

When she suggests taking the offensive to the Fire Nation, the King doesn't hesitate to agree. She was the Kings most trusted adviser now, who were they to question her?

* * *

The drill was a discarded hunk of metal below where Azula stood. It had gotten deep into the outer wall, but it had never breached. Lu Ten's men had worked admirably to destroy the great machine from the inside out - managing to spare as many people as possible in the subsequent destruction. Now the siege had begun, the troops below attempting to blast their way through the earthen wall towering above them. As far as Azula knew, it was only the 5th and 7th divisions currently at work. 

The rest of their army had already been called for. Azula had used her connections - half created from the Solar Aplexis ball - to hasten them through Earth Kingdom country. She wanted the siege to be as brief as possible and to do so, they had to muster more men and fast. There was a delicate time frame at work. 

Already, the citizens were beginning to stir, great explosions rumbling the walls for miles around. With their farmland encased inside the walls, there would be no shortage of food or supplies, but revolt and civil unrest could be just as bad. It was a delicate line to cross, and Azula knew it. Even with half the population lulled into a false sense of security, they would begin to notice an all out siege.

Somewhere in the midst of the legion of machinery below was Lu Ten, coordinating their joint efforts as best he could from behind their lines. Azula assumed he was in the larger of the tanks, a grand steel thing adorned with the red of the Fire Nation that sat at the head of the formation. For an odd reason, Azula wanted to see Lu Ten herself. It had been months since she'd last taken his easy company, and she had... missed it somehow.

Not that she would tell him that.

After Kuei had seen the incoming troops, the council of five had gathered for an emergency session. From the Dai Li spies that had lingered in the room, the vote had been almost unanimous to mount an aggressive against the Fire Nation. Her two smuggled Generals had coordinated it just so. Azula herself had watched as Ba Sing Se's military had mustered inside and out of the city - now sat leagues behind her and in front in ready defence.

From where she stands, Azula takes one more look at the Fire Nation's before turning away from the walls. She gives a brief nod to the commander posted here, who was currently directing the Earth Kingdom's forces in a sloppy fashion. Any other time, Azula would of snapped at the man for his poor direction, but she was still to keep up her facade for just a little longer and swallows down the insult. 

At an almost ponderous pace, Azula makes her way back to the Palace.

* * *

The final battle begins in the middle of the night. As Azula is awoken from her bed by a few of the royal guard, having to drag Ty Lee from her room - and much to the protests of the girl - she reflects on how odd it is that they decided to launch the battle _now_. Without the sun it would be more difficult for the Fire Nation to make use of all the resources at hand, seeing as almost all of the equipment they had relied on firebending. It's not for her to decide, seemingly, as she hastily throws on her armour, Ty Lee frantically platting her hair for the fight ahead.

It's a few minutes before she's running to the freights to take them to the outer wall. The trip would take near to an hour, even in their haste, which made it all the more important that they get there as soon as humanly able. Once on board, with Zuko and Mai stumbling on just seconds after, the carriage shudders to a start. 

"Why are we starting this at night?" Zuko moans. He looked particularly dishevelled with his hair unkempt and armour barely on straight. She knows she looks mostly the same, having forgone putting her hair up, but she still snorts at his appearance.

Mai looked downright murderous - but she always was in the mornings.

"I'm not quite sure. We may have started the attack on the Fire Nation ourselves instead of waiting." Ty Lee leans into her. "It doesn't matter. We're starting now. This is it."

"Right."

The nervous anticipation that had been building ever since she had been woken up only grows as they travel toward the outer wall. As they get ever closer to the battlefield, the sounds of fighting only swells in volume, both the tell tale roar of fire and the rumbling of earthbending. Above the wall was a thick layer of black smoke, blotting out the night sky. It was all too familiar- perhaps a little _too_ familiar for comfort, but Azula quashes the memories of the past with ease.

The next hour is spent in relative silence, only the growing sounds of battle, now accented with screeching metal and the screams of men, heard above the movement of the freight. 

When they finally arrive, the night sky has turned from a deep black to a midnight blue, rapidly lightening as dawn fast approaches. The black smoke was thick, yes, but drifting away from the walls thanks to a new turn of wind that whips at Azula's unkempt hair. They stride off as one group, coming to stop where they can overlook the scene of battle.

Populating the top of the wall were rows and rows of earth benders, hurling rock after rock below. Their movements were unfamiliar, stout and grounding and as unmoving as the earth itself. The velocity the boulders would reach would be deadly, Azula masks a frown at the thought. It was not a favourable death. 

A General stood among them, squawking out orders that rapidly made no sense whatsoever. Azula ignores him to analyse the ground hundreds of feet below them, populated by tiny red figures of men and women of her nation and rapidly growing numbers of Earth Kingdom troops. Even from so high above, the smell of bodies and burnt flesh carried. From beside her, Ty Lee retches at the all too familiar scent. 

With a grimace, Azula ignores her. She would have to get used to the smell, it would be the only thing present for the next twelve hours.

Azula and Zuko both were far too familiar with it - the first time she had smelt the stench of burnt flesh was when she were seven, at court in Azulon's throne room as he burnt his enemies alive. She had been violently sick, as had Zuko. Glancing at her brother, and finding him staring back, Azula knows he's thinking of the same memory. She gives him a weak shrug and turns back to the battle.

Their formation was as she expected, aggressive and overwhelming, yet lacking in long term stamina. It was a staple of the Fire Nation military tactics, attacking hard and fast and with enough force to quickly crush their opposition. A method with many flaws, yet if done right was brutally effective. She silently appraises the tight formations and solid co-ordination. They had mobilised far quicker than she expected - a testament to their Nation's prowess, even if it was in the art of war. 

Though, as Azula watches on, it's clear that whichever General that had been sent with her army was not expecting such a retaliation from Ba Sing Se. It was in the way the front line steadily pushed forward, away from the wall. 

It pulls a scowl to her face. 

The Fire Nation never backed away this soon. It simply wasn't done. Perhaps it was some form of baiting? But for what? 

With a frustrated grunt, Azula turns away to regard the three. They still had duties to do, and a battle to monitor absolutely. 

"Ty Lee, find Lu Ten. I need a report and you're the fastest here." Ty Lee nods, still looking pale but significantly less so now the scent was stuck up everyone's noses. "Zuko, Mai I need you monitoring the ground forces. Be careful."

They both nod at her. Sleep weary no longer, Zuko straightens out his armour, and just before he leaves, half turns to look at her. "What will you do?"

A truly disgusted scowl works it's way onto her face. "The Generals here are pathetic. I'll deal with them. Now go, all of you." Turning on her heel, Azula strides away. 

Hours later, Azula finds herself were they started, stood atop the great outer wall, looking below to the battle that still rages. 

The reinforcements called by the Fire Nation had arrived - her own army, her men in part - and were working to surround the Earth Kingdom's army. It was an odd thing to witness from so high up. Like fire ants, red and green and swarming, they pushed and pulled at each other. Plumes of dust and fire could be seen, mingling explosively with each other and the air thick with choking black.

With the Agni set low, the machinery of her Nation gleamed orange red, malicious almost, in their almost-neat rows. The horizon set hundreds of miles away, as if calling an end the the bloody battle below once Agni slipped from view.

From her observation, one thing becomes rapidly apparent. As the breeze whips at her pitch hair, Azula fights the deep, sinking feeling in her chest. Someone had betrayed her. It was starkly clear.

The Fire Nation shouldn't be pushing this hard, and they shouldn't be winning _this_ easily. It had been rocky at the beginning, that much as to be expected, but the battle was supposed to be one of attrition. It was currently one of conquest against a loosing side - which meant, somewhere, someone had betrayed her. At once, she damns the stubborn pride of her Nation. Their collective need for honour, need for victory was fucking with what she had spent _months_ working toward. 

Righteous anger fills her chest where dread once sat in a way that makes her arms near shake with it.

It consumes her so that she doesn't notice the rapid steps of Zuko and Mai, nor the adjacent ones of Ty Lee as they run to meet her. It's only at Ty Lee's shocked gasp does she wrench herself from her thoughts long enough to turn to them. 

Out of breath, Zuko just stares down at the scene. "Azula, what's happening?"

"What do you think Zuzu? Our Nation isn't co-operating." She hisses. Uncaring for his ragged appearance and tired face, Azula turns away.

This shouldn't be happening. She'd planned every move, every mistake, and somehow Lu Ten's side was the one to mess this up. _How?_

"Then how do we fix this?"

"Quickly." Anger compartmentalised in a place where it doesn't hinder her, Azula wracks her brain. "Give me Lu Ten's message again." Ty Lee slips it into her hand without question. It was a short thing, giving up basic information on the Generals and the War Minister that was present, as she had asked for. A little frustrated, she scans through the names again in an attempt to conjure something new from the fine lettering. There simply had to be something she was missing.

She skims over the name General Yaso, then rereads it. Then rereads it again. 

Casting her mind back, Azula searches for what she knew about the name - it was familiar at the very least. It takes longer than she would like, but eventually it clicks. Yaso was an old, low ranking General, that had served in the decimation of the Southern Water Tribe. A man who was widely known to be under Ozai's thumb. If anyone would dare betray her, it would be this man. 

Azula grits her teeth and glances up to them. "General Yaso. He's the one." Internally, she curses herself. "We need to get rid of him." The fact that she had overlooked the man makes her blood boil.

Without missing a beat, Mai fixes her with a significant look. "I'll deal with it."

Immediately, Azula wants to question her, to ask her why she was so willingly about to risk her life, but the words refuse to escape her mouth. They simply didn't have time, and Azula knows that Mai is starkly aware of this. It lingers though, curiosity at the edges of her overworked mind.

"Take Zuko." If she were going, she had to be safe. Mai turns, set to leave and as an after thought, Azula calls out, "And don't be stupid."

She doesn't see Mai's slight smile.

* * *

The lifts that the were set up inside the outer wall is suddenly something Zuko is unbelievably grateful for. Stood by Mai's side, disguised in stolen Earth Kingdom armour, two earthbenders pull them down to the battlefield. Mai hadn't told him of her plan, but she didn't need to. They bounced off each other well enough to know.

The General would either be inside one of their tanks, or on the battlefield itself. No one would even bat an eye if he was killed in combat by an Earth Kingdom solider, or assassinated by the very same. It was war, and in war anything goes.

The lift stops with a shudder, loose dirt raining down on them slightly. Zuko can see, underneath the hat Mai had pulled low, the way she frowns. He almost smiles. Together, they stride out into a small room filled with messengers and medics. A constant stream of wounded men were pulling in and out of the shadowed space. The smell of blood and sweat and peculiar heat is almost unbearable.

Not a single person bats an eye at the pair as they slip through the masses and outside into the open air. Immediately, Zuko is hit with the all too familiar smell of Fire Nation mechanics - an odd mix of smoke, metal, and something unique that came with excess firebending. He ignores it, ignores the way it evokes too many memories of battlefields, and follows Mai's single minded run toward the tanks. 

No longer gleaming, they were covered in the filth of the earth. Below them, men and women in red armour threw fire at the earthbenders - some dragging bodies away, others screaming orders that were lost to the absolute noise of chaos. 

The field of battle was a mess. 

Zuko dances around the clusters of fighting with ease, dodging the flying rocks and stray plumes of flames. The active tanks roar past them in hazes of upturned dirt entirely ignorant of their presence, or any of the soldiers around them. 

It takes minutes, long and confusing, to the heart of it all - heat and noise and chaos all around in a shimmer of haze. Zuko lunges to grab Mai's arm. He yanks her close, just to be heard over the roar of fire and machines. 

"Where will we find him?" 

Mai jerks her head behind him. Underneath the rim of her hat, her mouth was drawn into a fine line. "Near. He's outside, I saw him." Then she pulls away, drawing an impressive sword from it's stolen sheath at her side. 

Zuko says nothing and simply follows. It's a little too easy to emerge out of the dirt storm and into yet another battle. As smooth as water, Mai darts forward with renewed vigour, almost dancing between the hoards of people toward what Zuko assumes was General Yaso. Against his better judgement, Zuko stays were he is, and simply watches. 

It was easy to sneak up to someone with so much happening around them. So easy in fact, that Mai slips the blade between General Yaso's ribs with ease. He falls, clutching at her for a second before crumpling.

True to efficiency, Mai checks if the man is dead, hurls a concealed blade at an advancing solider who promptly crumples like a leaf, then begins sprinting away from the scene. Zuko grabs her hand as she passes and _runs_.

* * *

With Ty Lee by her side, Azula studies the throne. It was a strange structure, gaudy and wide, it spread languidly across it's pedestal. As if it had something to prove. Azula much preferred the powerful elegance of the Fire Nation's throne - even _with_ the flames. Despite how it didn't suit Iroh, the power that spoke from the fire, coupled with the elegance of such a throne was fitting, in a way. Representing her people, her culture, as they were at the their heart. 

Not warmongers, no, but powerful and beautiful, and united. 

She wondered how Lu Ten would look atop it. In the minds eye, he looked born to sit it, as the figurehead to call in a new age of peace. An age she had helped shape. 

The pride that swells in her chest is well-earnt, and Azula knows it. Only a final step remained before she could return to her country and watch Lu Ten be crowned the Fire Lord. A new age.

Behind them, she can hear Long Feng striding toward her, in steps she knows he thinks are silent. It was something she had anticipated, after the Fire Nation's defeat and subsequent retreat, that the Dai Li would switch sides. There were no feelings of betrayal, they were simply doing what was in their best interests - even if it lay with a pathetic leech such as Long Feng. 

Entirely at ease, Azula waits for him to stop by the foot of the throne. Ty Lee brushes her hand against her own and Azula fights the quirk of her mouth.

"It seems your little invasion has failed, Princess Azula." 

So, he had discovered her name. It's brief, but Azula feels a flicker of surprise wash over her. It would mean little in the next few minutes, but she allows herself to be vaguely impressed nonetheless. Discovering her true identity would of been no small feat.

"Perhaps." Azula hums. The throne really was rather ugly, wasn't it? She could not imagine herself on it. 

Long Feng scoffs. "As you can see, you no longer serve a use to me. I'm afraid this is where I kill you."

"You are not going to kill me."

"And why is that?"

Her empty chuckle echoes about the hall. Azula turns to him with a blank stare. "You play your games, scrabbling for a little more power here and there like a starving child. They are small, petty things compared to what I have achieved." With every word, Azula takes a step toward him, until they stand face to face. She finds it more than a little amusing that she looks down upon him. "You think you have won? Even after I stripped you of your name and title, and usurped your position in a mere week? After I took away your Dai Li and your power? _You_ had no use to begin with Long Feng. Simply a man borne of nothing, that has striven for too much."

The man looks angry, yet maintains his composure. Azula knows that won't be for much longer, but she enjoys his arrogance as it lasts. 

"You have not secured the throne, and neither have you removed the King. Your grand achievements are nothing more than the failure of your Nation." He scoffs. Azula keeps her smile frozen atop her face. "Dai Li, kill her. I tire of these games."

Ty Lee is already leaping into action before the Dai Li even move, taking down three of them in the space of seconds. Her hands work as a blur, chi-blocking the rest with a practised ease and a stand-offish backflip. Once she neutralises the small number of Dai Li in the room, Ty Lee bounces back to Azula's side and comes to lean against her. Azula's smile morphs to a smirk.

"As I said, you won't kill me." In a single gesture, both Kuei and Lu Ten emerge from the doors to her right. Long Feng pales. "I assume you know what's about to happen?"

Lu Ten moves to stand by Azula's side with a smile and a subtly raised eyebrow. He hands her the signing, officially confirming the ceasefire, which she slips into her armour. As Kuei begins to rant at Long Feng, she leans into his side. "How did it go?"

"He's very... suggestible. Easy enough though. Only argued a few points." Lu Ten hums back. 

That was expected. Lu Ten was good at court games, though no one ever seemed to give him credit, being the Crown Prince. Azula keeps her eyes to the scene unfolding in front of them, despite his eyes on her. "Good. Are you ready for what comes next?"

"Am I ever going to be?" He gives her a little huff, muted though it is. Kuei's voice had only risen as he speaks of Long Feng's betrayal.

"No. I don't think so." Azula gives him a half-smile. "But, out of anyone, I think you are the most worthy."

Lu Ten chuckles then lays a kind hand on her shoulder. "Thank you Azula. Really."

The praise sounds odd, and Azula feels a little like she didn't really deserve it. Was she not just righting the wrongs of their dynasty, of her family? It was a question of duty, to their Nation and as the Princess. Though, her efforts being recognised by the future Firelord was indeed good to know.

Azula had knew since she was little that she had been born in the shadow of the throne, destined to make waves in history that no one would really acknowledge. A young Azula had been furious at the stark reality of her life. Now, she thinks she's grown past that. Recognition was one thing, yes, but the knowledge that she truly had changed the world, for good, for better, was more than just accolades.

Maybe that was growth. Azula didn't really know. She doesn't really think it matters. 

She gives him a brief shrug. "I only did what was right. Besides, the real work begins _after_ this"

"I know. The point still remains."

"I- well, thank you for believing in me." And she meant it.

Together, all three of them watch on as Kuei's anger fizzles out into remorse. At the wave of his hand, he allows them to leave. Officially, Azula had no more business in Ba Sing Se. She could finally go back home, to her familiar bed, and her regular visits with Rul. 

Home. She could finally go back to a place she called home.

* * *

It doesn't last. 

Lu Ten comes to her scant hours later, when they board their ships back to the Fire Nation. He looks more distressed than she had ever seen him, a messenger hawk on his shoulder and paper clutched in his hand. Azula's dread only grows when he refuses to meet her eyes, simply thrusting out the piece of paper to her.

As she reads it, her stomach drops.

"Ozai has left the Capital unannounced, with half the Fire Nation's naval forces. Azula, you know there's only one place that he's going to be going to."

Gaze sharp, she glares over the side of the flagship. The note crumbles and burns under blue flame.

"The northern water Tribe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if Ty Lee doesnt flirt with Azula once every 24 hours she literally just dies. no i Do Not make the rules it is what it is  
> aight we r finally pushing to the 3rd act, also known as shitty loserlord Ozai is shitty and horrible and no one likes him  
> thank u for all ur comments n kudos ! ! ! this shit took off way more than i ever expected !  
> i just wanna say yall r the Best, and strap in


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